Hot! Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics. It especially refers to notions of struggle for existence being used to justify social policies which make no distinction between those able to support themselves and those unable to support themselves. The most prominent form of such views stressed competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism ; but it is also connected to the ideas of scientific racism , imperialism , fascism , Nazism and struggle between national or racial groups.

Origin of the term Theories and origins United States Japan China Criticism and controversy Multiple incompatible definitions Part of the difficulty in establishing sensible and consistent usage is that commitment to the biology of natural selection and to 'survival of the fittest' entailed nothing uniform either for sociological method or for political doctrine. A 'social Darwinist' could just as well be a defender of laissez-faire as a defender of state socialism, just as much an imperialist as a domestic eugenist. Laissez-faire individualism, Nazism, eugenics, fascism, imperialism Peter Kropotkin - Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution Nazi Germany See also References

Williams, Raymond. 2000. Social Darwinism . in Herbert Spencer's Critical Assessment. John Offer. (ed). pp. 186 -199

^ Leonard, Thomas C. (2009) Origins of the Myth of Social Darwinism : The Ambiguous Legacy of Richard Hofstadter s Social Darwinism in American Thought Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 71, p.37 51

Gregory Claeys (2000). The "Survival of the Fittest" and the Origins of Social Darwinism. Journal of the History of Ideas 61 (2):223-240.

Bowler 2003 , pp. 298 299

Abercrombie, Nicholas; Hill, Stephen; Turner, Bryan. 2000. pp. 321-322 'The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology, 4th edition',

^ Hodgson 2004 , pp. 428 430

Bannister 1989

Hawkins 2000

Dickens 2003

Paul, Diane B. 2003. Darwin, Social Darwinism and Eugenics. in The Cambridge companion to Darwin. Cambridge University Press , 2003 ISBN 0-521-77730-5 p.

^ Fisher, Joseph (1877). "The History of Landholding in Ireland". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (London)V: 250. , quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary

(1907). "Social Darwinism". American Journal of Sociology (Chicago)12: 709 10.

Hodgson 2004 , pp. 445 446

^ Mises Institute

Bannister, 1979; Hodgson, 2004

(April 1860). . . pp. 541 70. Retrieved 2008-06-19. "What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular?"

Bowler 2003 , p. 197

^ Fisher 1877 , pp. 249 250

Hodgson

Desmond & Moore 1991 , p. 598

Darwin 1882 , p. 134

Spencer, Herbert. 1860. 'The Social Organism', originally published in The Westminster Review. Reprinted in Spencer's (1892) Essays: Scientific, Political and Speculative. London and New York.

Barbara Stiegler, Nietzsche et la biologie,

, , 224 here

Scott F Gilbert (2006). . "Eventually, the Biogenetic Law had become scientifically untenable."

Schmidt, Oscar; J. Fitzgerald (translator) (March 1879). "Science and Socialism". Popular Science Monthly (New York)14: 577 591. ISSN 0161-7370 . "Darwinism is the scientific establishment of inequality"

but see:Wells, D. Collin. 1907. "Social Darwinism". American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 695-716

Descent of Man, chapter 4 ISBN 1-57392-176-9

"A careful reading of the theories of Sumner and Spencer exonerates them from the century-old charge of social Darwinism in the strict sense of the word. They did not themselves advocate the application of Darwin's theory of natural selection."

"At least a part and sometimes a generous part" of the great fortunes went back to the community through many kinds of philanthropic endeavor, says Robert H. Bremner, American Philanthropy (1988) p. 86 online at Amazon.com

Borrowing from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, social Darwinists believed that societies, as do organisms evolve over time. Nature then determined that the strong survive and the weak perish. In Jack London's case, he thought that certain favored races were destined for survival, mainly those that could preserve themselves while supplanting others, as in the case of the White race." The philosophy of Jack London

Eugenics in Japan: some ironies of modernity, 1883-1945 by Otsubo S, Bartholomew JR. Sci Context. 1998 Autumn-Winter;11(3-4):545-65.

McLean, Iain (2009). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Oxford University: Oxford University Press. pp. 490. ISBN [ ].

Leonard, Thomas C. (2005) Mistaking Eugenics for Social Darwinism: Why Eugenics is Missing from the History of American Economics History of Political Economy, Vol. 37 supplement: 200-233

^ . Expelled Exposed. National Center for Science Education. National Center for Science Education. Retrieved 2008-06-09.

^ . Center for Science and Culture . October 10, 2004. Retrieved 2008-05-17.

^ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company . 2008-10. ISBN 978-0-547-14701-7 . Retrieved 2007 03 25. "The most extreme ideological expression of nationalism and imperialism was Social Darwinism. In the popular mind, the concepts of evolution justified the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by superior races. This language of race and conflict, of superior and inferior people, had wide currency in the Western states. Social Darwinists vigorously advocated the acquisition of empires, saying that strong nations-by definition, those that were successful at expanding industry and empire-would survive and that others would not. To these elitists, all white men were more fit than non-whites to prevail in the struggle for dominance. Even among Europeans, some nations were deemed more fit than others for the competition. Usually, Social Darwinists thought their own nation the best, an attitude that sparked their competitive enthusiasm. In the nineteenth century, in contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans, except for missionaries, rarely adopted the customs or learned the languages of local people. They had little sense that other cultures and other people had merit or deserved respect. Many westerners believed that it was their duty as Christians to set an example and to educate others. Missionaries were the first to meet and learn about many peoples and were the first to develop writing for those without a written language. Christian missionaries were ardently opposed to slavery."

Chomsky, Noam (July 8, 2011). .

cf. 1997 BBC documentary: "The Nazis: A Warning from History"

E.g. Weingart, P., J. Kroll, and K. Bayertz, Rasse, Blut, und Gene. Geschichte der Eugenik und Rassenhygiene in Deutschland (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1988).

Arendt, H.: Elements of Totalitarianism, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York 1951. pp. 178-179

Nazis planned to exterminate Christianity

American Historical Review )110(2): 566. Volume 110, Issue 2, Page 566 567, April 2005. doi :10.1086/531468 .

Isis . Volume 96, Issue 4, Page 669 671, December 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-17.

. . September, 2004. Retrieved 2007-05-17.

^ . . June, 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-17.

. . (March 2006): 255 257. Retrieved 2007-05-17.

. . 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-17.

ISBN 3-85114-664-6 .

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