Social Darwinism

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Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to

apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology,
economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in Western
Europe and North America in the 1870s. [1][2] Social Darwinism holds that the strong
see their wealth and power increase while the weak see their wealth and power
decrease. Social Darwinist definitions of the strong and the weak vary, and also
differ on the precise mechanisms that reward strength and punish weakness. Many
such views stress competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism, while
others, emphasizing struggle between national or racial groups,
support eugenics, racism, imperialism and/or fascism.[3][4][5]
Social Darwinism declined in popularity as a purportedly scientific concept following
the First World War, and was largely discredited by the end of the Second World
War—partially due to its association with Nazism and partially due to a growing
scientific consensus that eugenics and scientific racism were groundless.[3][6][7] Later
reference to social Darwinism was usually pejorative. [7][8][9]
Some groups, including creationists such as William Jennings Bryan, argued that
social Darwinism is a logical consequence of Darwinism.[8] Academics such
as Steven Pinker have argued this is a fallacy of appeal to nature as natural
selection is a description of a biological phenomenon and does not imply that this
phenomenon is morally desirable in human society. [10] While most scholars recognize
some historical links between the popularisation of Darwin's theory and forms of
social Darwinism, they also maintain that social Darwinism is not a necessary
consequence of the principles of biological evolution. Social Darwinism is generally
accepted to be a pseudoscience.[11][12][13][14]
Scholars debate the extent to which the various social Darwinist ideologies
reflect Charles Darwin's own views on human social and economic issues. His
writings have passages that can be interpreted as opposing aggressive
individualism, while other passages appear to promote it. [15] Darwin's early
evolutionary views and his opposition to slavery ran counter to many of the claims
that social Darwinists would eventually make about the mental capabilities of the
poor and indigenous peoples in the European colonies.[16] After the publication of On
the Origin of Species in 1859, one strand of Darwin's followers, led by Sir John
Lubbock, argued that natural selection ceased to have any noticeable effect on
humans once organised societies had been formed. [17] However, some scholars
argue that Darwin's view gradually changed and came to incorporate views from
other theorists such as Herbert Spencer.[18] Spencer
published[19] his Lamarckian evolutionary ideas about society before Darwin first
published his hypothesis in 1859, and both Spencer and Darwin promoted their own
conceptions of moral values. Spencer supported laissez-faire capitalism on the basis
of his Lamarckian belief that struggle for survival spurred self-improvement which
could be inherited.[20] An important proponent in Germany was Ernst Haeckel, who
popularized Darwin's thought and his personal interpretation of it, and used it as well
to contribute to a new creed, the monist movement.