The Evolution of Social Darwinism
The Holocaust was an acceptable form of natural selection. Welfare takes money away from hardworking individuals and gives it to the idle, the useless members of our society. 59.4% of America's wealth is held by the top 5% of its population. The conception of Social Darwinism in the late 19th century led to the type of ideology used here and justifies that appalling fact. Historically, the stronger, more capable members of society have thought of themselves as being better than those that are less fortunate than themselves, believing the weak only exist to improve the lives of the strong. In the late 19th century, with the onslaught of a Democratic Revolution, the traditional hierarchical rationalization for this exploitation was lost. In place of these hierarchies emerged a democratic market system. A new system required new justification. Consequently, many writers and philosophers attempted to convey this message, but it was not until Charles Darwin published his biological research on evolution, On the Origin of Species, that these men were able to find justification for their views. However, it is merely that: justification. Such scholars as Herbert Spencer and William Grah
By shunning the extremist views of individualism, laissez-faire economics and other such debasing actions, the sociobiologists of the modern era have taken a historically misrepresented philosophy and applied it beneficently to the world of today. Wilson summarizes, Adaptiveness means simply that if an individual displayed the traits he stood a better chance of having his genes represented in the next generation than if he did not display these traits. His first such work was the essay "Sociology," published in 1881. For example, laissez faire was utilized by the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age as validation for their avaricious actions. Darwin sums up his hypothesis by stating that, The theory of natural selection is grounded on the belief that each new variety, and ultimately each new species, is produced and maintained by having some advantage over those with which it comes into competition; and the consequent extinction of less favoured forms almost inevitably follows (Darwin, p. Among these theorists was Herbert Spencer, a sociologist and social philosopher of Darwin's time who is considered to be the father of Social Darwinism. In this work, he proposed "one general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die" (Darwin, 263). Thus, whether he argued against socialism, welfare programs or state interference, Sumner was able to extract evidence from Darwin's theory to prove that competition was the key to progress, not coddling the weak and essentially useless members of society. The former is the law of civilization; the latter is the law of anti-civilization. "It is hardly surprising that the robber barons found Social Darwinism congenial. For being a sociologist, it is quite interesting to see Spencer simplifying the composition of an entire society down to an individual. am Sumner used the biological research of Darwin and attempted to apply to a social context, neglecting the complexity of human nature. " It was this acclamation for unrestrained competition that gained Sumner his notoriety, especially among his pupils at Yale. Although this philosophy differs from that of their antecedents, sociobiologists like Dawkins believe that man, and subsequently society, is far more complex than to be confined to the theories that categorize other organisms.
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