Degeneration Theory:
A forerunner of the modern 'spiteful mutant' theory was coined in the mid-1800s by the psychiatrist Benedict Morel (see also: behavioral sink)...
In France during the 1800s, there was a significant rise in criminality, as well as mental and physical illness. Morel attempted to discover the root causes of these problems by studying insane asylum patients.
He found that the mentally disabled were often stricken with physical abnormalities or deformities and that most patients in the asylum had some sort of physical abnormality, among which he included things like facial asymmetry.
He concluded that physical and mental ailments were somehow linked and heritable and that they became progressively worse in each generation. If the problem was not somehow resolved, this would lead to a progressively more neurotic and criminal population.
So, Morel seemed to originate the theory that some people are just genetically messed up, with incurable psychological problems.
Morel's theory was very influential in the late 1800s. It contributed to ideas of social degeneracy being a form of mental illness, but also to eugenics, social Darwinism, "scientific racism," etc.
The most famous work on this issue, as far as I know, was
Degeneration (1892) by Max Nordau, which was dedicated to Morel. In
Degeneration, Nordau attacked social degeneracy as decadent contempt for traditional customs and morality and discussed the impact of various societal developments, like rapid urbanization.
Nordau was Jewish and the co-founder of the World Zionist Organization. So, naturally, he included "anti-Semitism" as a form of "degeneration" but his other takes were in line with the general Right-Wing sentiments in Europe at the time.
Degeneration was not particularly unique or original.
Shockingly, Morel's theory was rejected by psychologists like Freud, who offered the first real "scientific" contestation to Degeneration Theory, and is currently considered "outdated" by modern psychologists.
Anyway, to wrap things up, I'm always surprised by how similar late 1800s thinkers are to modern Right-Wingers. They were clearly dealing with all of the same problems that we are, but in a significantly diluted form. They couldn't even begin to imagine how bad things have gotten today.
