Contents
Social Darwinism is a loose set of ideologies that emerged in the late 1800s in which Charles Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection was used to justify certain political, social, or economic views. Social Darwinists believe in survival of the fittestthe idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better. Social Darwinism has been used to justify imperialism, racism, eugenics and social inequality at various times over the past century and a half.
According to Darwins theory of evolution, only the plants and animals best adapted to their environment will survive to reproduce and transfer their genes to the next generation. Animals and plants that are poorly adapted to their environment will not survive to reproduce.
Charles Darwin published his notions on natural selection and the theory of evolution in his influential 1859 book On the Origin of Species.
Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection was a scientific theory focused on explaining his observations about biological diversity and why different species of plants and animals look different.
Yet in an attempt to convey his scientific ideas to the British public, Darwin borrowed popular concepts, including survival of the fittest, from sociologist Herbert Spencer and struggle for existence from economist Thomas Malthus, who had earlier written about how human societies evolve over time.
Darwin rarely commented on the social implications of his theories. But to those who followed Spencer and Malthus, Darwins theory appeared to be confirming with science what they already believed to be true about human societythat the fit inherited qualities such as industriousness and the ability to accumulate wealth, while the unfit were innately lazy and stupid.
After Darwin published his theories on biological evolution and natural selection, Herbert Spencer drew further parallels between his economic theories and Darwins scientific principles.
Spencer applied the idea of survival of the fittest to so-called laissez faire or unrestrained capitalism during the Industrial Revolution, in which businesses are allowed to operate with little regulation from the government.
Unlike Darwin, Spencer believed that people could genetically pass learned qualities, such as frugality and morality, on to their children.
Spencer opposed any laws that helped workers, the poor, and those he deemed genetically weak. Such laws, he argued, would go against the evolution of civilization by delaying the extinction of the unfit.
Another prominent Social Darwinist was American economist William Graham Sumner. He was an early opponent of the welfare state. He viewed individual competition for property and social status as a tool for eliminating the weak and immoral of the population.
As social Darwinist rationalizations of inequality gained popularity in the late 1800s, British scholar Sir Francis Galton (a half-cousin of Darwin) launched a new science aimed at improving the human race by ridding society of its undesirables. He called it eugenics.
Galton proposed to better humankind by propagating the British elite. He argued that social institutions such as welfare and mental asylums allowed inferior humans to survive and reproduce at higher levels than their superior counterparts in Britains wealthy class.
Galtons ideas never really took hold in his country, but they became popular in America where the concepts of eugenics quickly gained strength.
Eugenics became a popular social movement in the United States that peaked in the 1920s and 1930s. Books and films promoted eugenics, while local fairs and exhibitions held fitter family and better baby competitions around the country.
The eugenics movement in the United States focused on eliminating undesirable traits from the population. Proponents of the eugenics movement reasoned the best way to do this was by preventing unfit individuals from having children.
During the first part of the twentieth century, 32 U.S. states passed laws that resulted in the forced sterilization of more than 64,000 Americans including immigrants, people of color, unmarried mothers and the mentally ill.
Adolf Hitler, one of the worlds most notorious eugenicists, drew inspiration from Californias forced sterilizations of the feeble-minded in designing Nazi Germanys racially based policies.
Hitler began reading about eugenics and social Darwinism while he was imprisoned following a failed 1924 coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch.
Hitler adopted the social Darwinist take on survival of the fittest. He believed the German master race had grown weak due to the influence of non-Aryans in Germany. To Hitler, survival of the German Aryan race depended on its ability to maintain the purity of its gene pool.
The Nazis targeted certain groups or races that they considered biologically inferior for extermination. These included Jews, Roma (gypsies), Poles, Soviets, people with disabilities and homosexuals.
By the end of World War II, social Darwinist and eugenic theories had fallen out of favor in the United States and much of Europepartly due to their associations with Nazi programs and propaganda, and because these theories were scientifically unfounded.
Social Darwinism; American Museum of Natural History.Americas Hidden History: The Eugenics Movement; Nature. September 18, 2014.In the Name of Darwin; PBS.Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
See original here:
- Modern evolutionary synthesis - Wikipedia - December 11th, 2016 [December 11th, 2016]
- Why Darwinism Is False | Center for Science and Culture - December 11th, 2016 [December 11th, 2016]
- Difference between Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism | Major ... - December 15th, 2016 [December 15th, 2016]
- Natural selection - Wikipedia - December 15th, 2016 [December 15th, 2016]
- Social Darwinism - University of Colorado Boulder - December 22nd, 2016 [December 22nd, 2016]
- Social Darwinism - Dr. Hartnell's Nutty the A.D.D. Squirrel - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- Darwinism and World War One - creation.com - January 20th, 2017 [January 20th, 2017]
- Tom Bethell's Rebuke to Fellow Journalists: A Skeptical Look at Evolution Is Not Beyond Your Powers - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Darwin Americanus - lareviewofbooks - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Darwin Americanus - Los Angeles Review of Books - lareviewofbooks - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Biologist Ann Gauger: Apoptosis (Cell Death) Is an Enigma for Darwinism - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Tom Bethell on Mind, Matter, and Self-Defeating Darwinism - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The Curious Romance of Darwinism and Creationism -- And Why Intelligent Design Must Be Silenced - Discovery Institute - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- With Darwin Day Approaching, It's Time for a Look Back at Evolution ... - Discovery Institute - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- The Lord's Day, Meet Darwin Day and Shudder | The American ... - American Spectator - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Criticism of Darwinism - MOLWICK - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- With Darwin Day Coming Tomorrow, Here's Tom Bethell on Darwin's ... - Discovery Institute - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- The Truth about Soviet Science and Darwinian Evolution Isn't as Darwinists Would Like Us to Believe - Discovery Institute - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Happy Darwin Day! German Natural History Museum Is Our 2017 Censor of the Year - Discovery Institute - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- What Darwinists Don't Tell You: Valentine's Day Edition - Discovery Institute - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- COLUMN: Trump Train driving a new type of Darwinism - Jacksonville Daily News - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Disregarding Fake News from Darwin Promoters, South Dakota Scientist Applauds Academic Freedom Bill - Discovery Institute - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Astronomers Use Darwinism To Plot Stellar Family Tree - Forbes - Forbes - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Doug Axe: Hidden Figures and the Engineering Challenge to Darwinism - Discovery Institute - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- The Envelope, Please? Doug Axe and Undeniable Are World Magazine 2016 Science Book of the Year! - Discovery Institute - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- HOWS THAT MINIMUM WAGE LAW WORKING?: Increase sets social Darwinism in motion - Aztec Press - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- "Darwin's Dice" -- Michael Flannery on the Role of Chance in ... - Discovery Institute - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- 'Mating' Robots Take a Fast-Forward Leap in Digital Darwinism - Live Science - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- In China We Can Criticize Darwin, Continued - Discovery Institute - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- 'Darwinism doesn't quite cut it,' says Tonko, rallying North Country Democrats - Sun Community News - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Survival of the fittest: AI perfectly illustrates Darwinism at a business level - Information Age - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- The First Church of Darwin - Personal Liberty Digest - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Evolution as Bingo: Darwinists Seek Better Ways to Indoctrinate - Discovery Institute - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- The Darwin Project is the Overwatch-Hunger Games crossover you never knew you wanted - GamesRadar - June 12th, 2017 [June 12th, 2017]
- For the Public School Biology Teacher, Zombie Science Makes an Outstanding Resource - Discovery Institute - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- On Amazon buying Whole Foods: 'The ramifications for all of retail are seismic' - Yahoo Finance - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Orphan Black Season 5 Episode 2 Review: Clutch of Greed - Den of Geek US - June 18th, 2017 [June 18th, 2017]
- Darwinism - RationalWiki - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism - RationalWiki - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- From the Recesses of My Mind - ChicagoNow (blog) - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Are aliens more likely by design than black holes? - SYFY WIRE (blog) - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Turkey to stop teaching evolution in secondary schools as part of new national curriculum - The Independent - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Botany: He made plants a profession - Nature.com - June 24th, 2017 [June 24th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism Is What Truly Guides Trump - New York Magazine - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Scott Turner's Purpose and Desire An Important New Voice in the Evolution Debate - Discovery Institute - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- PETYA Darwinism applied to cyberspace - CSO Online - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- UK police to embrace IoT in age of 'Digital Darwinism' - The Internet of Business (blog) - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Darwinism Will Fix the Investment Industry - Bloomberg - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident - Discovery Institute - July 4th, 2017 [July 4th, 2017]
- Woodrow Wilson & Donald Trump's Darwinian vs. Newtonian ... - National Review - July 5th, 2017 [July 5th, 2017]
- Will Darwinism Kill Feminism? - Heat Street - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Bluebirds, babies, and orgasms: the women scientists who fought Darwinism's sexist myths - Prospect - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Pundit Calls Proverbs the "Most Republican Book in the Bible" Because It Preaches "Social Darwinism" - Independent Women's Forum... - July 11th, 2017 [July 11th, 2017]
- Biologist Laments, I Want Deeply for [Darwinism] to Make Sense - Discovery Institute - July 11th, 2017 [July 11th, 2017]
- Here's Why We Can't Just Ignore The Racism In The Dawn Of Evolutionary Theory - The Daily Caller - July 16th, 2017 [July 16th, 2017]
- Does Darwinism Lead to Infanticide Acceptance? - National Review - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Biologist J. Scott Turner's Rediscovery How Darwinism Fatally Overlooks What Life Is - Discovery Institute - July 20th, 2017 [July 20th, 2017]
- EDITORIAL: Republicans can't turn anger into viable health policy - Waco Tribune-Herald - July 21st, 2017 [July 21st, 2017]
- Darwinism: Old politics will perish - The Hans India - July 21st, 2017 [July 21st, 2017]
- Why Aristotle and Aquinas? - Discovery Institute - July 25th, 2017 [July 25th, 2017]
- An RX for Social Darwinism - HuffPost - July 26th, 2017 [July 26th, 2017]
- Creationism vs. Darwinism - Creation - AllAboutCreation.org - August 2nd, 2017 [August 2nd, 2017]
- Home Movies/Out on Digital: Aug. 3, 2017 - Shepherd Express - August 2nd, 2017 [August 2nd, 2017]
- AN Wilson: It's time Charles Darwin was exposed for the fraud he was - Evening Standard - August 4th, 2017 [August 4th, 2017]
- Devouring Capitalism - Bloomberg - August 4th, 2017 [August 4th, 2017]
- Fintan O'Toole: There will always be a market for misogyny - Irish Times - August 6th, 2017 [August 6th, 2017]
- Business times are a changin' - White Bear Press - August 9th, 2017 [August 9th, 2017]
- ANALYSIS-Buoyant bitcoin stirs crypto-bubble fears - Nasdaq - August 10th, 2017 [August 10th, 2017]
- Liberals Are For ScienceUntil They're Not - Power Line (blog) - August 10th, 2017 [August 10th, 2017]
- Social media a double-edged sword, IG cautions students - The Hindu - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Prohibition of dagga was racist - historian | News24 - News24 - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Social Darwinism - American Museum of Natural History - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Prohibition of dagga was racist historian - DestinyConnect - August 18th, 2017 [August 18th, 2017]
- The alt-right loves Nietzsche, but Nietzsche would not love them - Boing Boing - August 18th, 2017 [August 18th, 2017]
- Curricula on Intelligent Design Are Urgently Needed And Here They Are! - Discovery Institute - August 18th, 2017 [August 18th, 2017]
- The birth of Geotrumpism - Guardian (blog) - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- How can I keep my employees from jumping ship? - New York Post - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- Curricula on Intelligent Design Are Urgently Needed -- And Here ... - Discovery Institute - August 21st, 2017 [August 21st, 2017]
- American lit, conservative thought and Trump - St. Augustine Record - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]
- Digital transformation: It's not a destination - Econsultancy (blog) - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]