Herbert Spencer Social Darwinism

Charles Darwin developed a theory of biological evolution that stated all species evolved from other species through natural selection. Herbert Spencer followed up with this theory by coining the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ as a way to describe natural selection. This theory grew among scientist, but the Fundamentalist Christians opposed Darwinism because it goes against their core beliefs. Some used it as a way to justify classifying some people as second-rate and how they treated those people. Darwinism also played a major role in America’s immigration policy and furthermore is one of the main reason for the start of World War I.

Ronald Reagan made many economic decisions that supported his beliefs in Social Darwinism throughout his presidency. Social Darwinism is considered to be the ideas of struggle for existence and “survival of the fittest,” a term coined by Herbert Spencer in order to justify social policies. Over time the individuals with superior biological characteristics will dominate populations that this super species possessed. Couples who possessed these special qualities would then pass them down to their offspring, creating an elite generation in the modern world. Dominic Sandbrook the author of Mad as Hell, The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of

Social Darwinism is a quasi-philosophical, quasi-religious, quasi-sociological view that came from the mind of Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher in the 19th century. It did not achieve wide acceptance in England or Europe, but flourished in this country, as is true of many ideologies, religions, and philosophies. A good summary of Social Darwinism is by Johnson:

Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the same year that Baldur von Schirach became the Youth Leader of the German Reich. There were divisions of girls and boys in the youth including The Hitler Youth, The Young People, and The League of German Girls which included “Faith and Beauty” (Epstein 74). The Nazi party successfully mobilized the German young to become one of them and did so by providing a false sense of hope, creating a feeling of belonging, and encouraging rebellion.

Cleopatra To begin, Cleopatra was a strong and passionate leader for the Egyptians. Although she was a great leader and role model for some people (www.goddesslife.com) she made decisions that affected Egypt in good and bad ways. She killed her siblings, had a relationship with Julius Caesar, and she tragically killed herself. Therefore, she was an important leader in ancient times.

Social Darwinism is a belief, popular in the late Victorian era in England, America, and elsewhere, which states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die. The theory was chiefly expounded by Herbert Spencer, whose ethical philosophies always held an elitist view and received a boost from the application of Darwinian ideas such as adaptation and natural selection. Spencer and Social Darwinism Herbert Spencer, the father of Social Darwinism as an ethical theory, was thinking in terms of elitist, "might makes right" sorts of views long before Darwin published his theory. However, Spencer quickly adapted Darwinian ideas to his own ethical theories. The concept of adaptation

Basically, they took Darwin's theory of natural selection, which was intended to apply only to selection through genetic variability, and applied it to selection between human groups differentiated by culture alone. The concept, referred to as social Darwinism, embraced all efforts to apply Darwinian biology and evolution to human society. Through the years, social Darwinism became widely popular and was used to justify predatory capitalism, social classes, racial prejudices, and imperialism.

Social Darwinism was a set of theories developed by various people during the 19th century. It was the adaptation of Darwin theory of evolution applied to human social behavior and ability to survive compared to other human beings. It can now easily be seen that these theories could be used to justify racial discrimination and they have been used in this way throughout history. This misconception of Darwin’s theories popularized by various academics in the west gave western nations to treat other nations badly. People like French man Joseph Gobineau had already come up with race supremacy ideas before Darwin’s theories of evolution had started to become a popular idea. He took his ideas from what he was seeing around him at the time not

England went through dramatic changes in the 19th century. English culture, socio-economic structure and politics where largely influenced by the principles of science. Many social expressions occurred due to these changes. Transformations which categorized this time period could be observed in social institutions; for instance: the switch from popular Evangelicalism to atheism, emergence of feminism and the creation of new political ideologies (Liberalism, Conservatism and Radicalism). These are just a few of the changes that took place.

Social theorist Herbert Spencer, a contemporary to Darwin, was one of the most vocal proponents of Social Darwinism. Coining the term “Survival of the Fittest”, he proposed that there existed a natural order to society, where the strong- be it on an

In the argument of Social Darwinism between Lester Ward and Herbert Spencer, my opinion lies in favor of Ward. He opposes the idea of laissez faire and that nature should be the determinate of each individual’s success. Ward utilizes the example of humans living in traditionally unbearable environments: “At the present moment the most dense and the most enlightened populations of the globe occupy what are termed temperate latitudes, which means latitudes in which for from three to five months each year vegetation ceases entirely, the waters are locked in ice, and the temperature frequently sinks far below the zero of the Fahrenheit thermo-meter….How long would the puny race survive? But these are not products of nature, they are products of

Social Darwinism is the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ so in other words, the strongest and fittest survive and flourish in society, while the weak should be allowed to die. This theory is the basis for Frank Norris's’ novel McTeague. Norris believed that whatever social class you were born in, that should be the social class that you stay in. In Frank Norris’ McTeague, couples Zerkow and Maria, and Trina and McTeague exemplify the concept of Social Darwinism as seen through the rise and the downfall of their lives.

Throughout the Victorian Age, there was great controversy surrounding the relationship between religion and science. During this era, writers began investigating the idea of natural forces modifying organisms throughout their existence rather than God creating every organism with specific attributes to meet their needs. As a result, the ideology known as Darwinism emerged throughout the age. Later in the era, Darwinism was tweaked to describe the intricacies of human society and the varying levels of human economic and social classes. Social Darwinism was established in the second half of the 19th century based off of the Darwinist ideologies suggested by naturalists Robert Chambers, Charles Darwin, and Herbert Spencer. Social Darwinism applies

Social Darwinism came to popularity in 1859 when Charles Darwin, a British naturalist, published his book called On the Origin of Species about his theory of “Darwinism”. This theory was very popular between the years 1870-1890; it spanned until the early 1900s (around 1910). Social Darwinism is any conviction or hypothesis that endeavors to clarify human culture as far as regular determination specifies the hypothesis that people, ethnic gatherings, and so on make progress or predominance as a result of inborn hereditary prevalence and a resultant upper hand. The hypothesis of Social Darwinism said that the people who were feeble were getting smaller in quantity as the more solid people developed in power. Herbert Spencer, a British philosopher and sociologist, acquired Darwin’s theory of evolution and twisted the idea around to make his idea of “survival of the fittest” connect with Darwin’s theory. Spencer said: “The wealthy and powerful were the ‘fittest,’ people endowed with innate intelligence, strength, and the adaptability that enabled them to succeed in the competitive world of business” (Visions of America).

The real source of Social Darwinism is Herbert Spencer an English sociologist who took Darwin's theory and applied it to how societies change and evolve over time. As a sociologist, he did not feel the need to improve society, for he felt that societies were bound to change own its own. He took the theory of evolution one step beyond biology and applied it to say that societies were organisms that progress through changes similar to that of a living species. It was his philosophy that societies would begin simple and then progress to a more complex form. He also found similarities between animal organisms and societies in that both had three main systems.