Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is a social theory which holds that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is not only a model for the development of biological traits in a population, but can also be applied to human social institutions. Social Darwinisim was popular in the late nineteenth century to the end of World War II, although some have claimed that contemporary sociobiology could be classified as a form of Social Darwinism. Proponents of Social Darwinism often used the theory to justify laissez-faire capitalism and social inequality. Others used it to justify racism and imperialism. At its most extreme, some Social Darwinism appears to anticipate eugenics and the race doctrines of the Nazis.

History

Social Darwinism and other theories of social change

Theories of social evolution and cultural evolution are common in European thought. The Enlightenment thinkers who preceded Darwin often speculated that societies progressed through stages of increasing development. Earlier thinkers also emphasized conflict as an inherent feature of social life. Thomas Hobbes's 17th century portrayal of the state of nature seems analogous to the competition for natural resources described by Darwin. However, Darwin's discussion of evolution was unique in several ways from these previous works. Darwin argued that humans were shaped by biological laws (emphasizing the natural over the supernatural in human development) in the same way as other animals, particularly by the pressure put on individuals by population growth. Unlike Hobbes he believed that this pressure allowed individuals with certain physical and mental traits to succeed more frequently than others, and that these traits accumulated in the population over time to allow the emergence of a new species. Social Darwinism is distinct from these other theories of social change because of the way it draws Darwin's distinctive ideas from the field of biology into social studies.

Related Topics:
Social evolution - Cultural evolution - Enlightenment - Thomas Hobbes - 17th century - State of nature

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Darwin and Social Darwinism

Despite the fact that Social Darwinism bears Darwin's name and Darwin's works were widely read by Social Darwinists, the theory draws on the work of many authors, including Herbert Spencer and Thomas Malthus. Thus Social Darwinism sometimes differs with Darwin's thought, and with modern theories of evolution that have developed in the century and a half since Darwin first wrote.

Related Topics:
Herbert Spencer - Thomas Malthus

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It seems clear that Darwin felt that 'social instincts' such as 'sympathy' and 'moral sentiments' evolved through natural selection, and that these resulted in the strengthening of societies in which they occurred, so much so that "at some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world." (Descent of Man, ch. 6). Thus Darwin did believe that social phenomena were shaped by natural selection, although exactly how evolutionary pressure on individuals led to collective benefits is something that Darwin never clearly explicated. At the same time, Darwin did not hold the political views that many of those inspired by him would eventually affect.

Related Topics:
Social instinct - Natural selection

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Another major influence on Social Darwinism was the work of Herbert Spencer. Herbert Spencer's ideas, like that of evolutionary 'progressivism' stemmed from his reading of Thomas Malthus, and his later theories were influenced by those of Darwin. However Spencer's major work in the field of social darwinism, "" was released two years before the publication Darwin's "Origin", and his second, "First Principles", was printed in 1860. In regards to social institutions, however, there is a good case that Spencer's writings might be classified as 'Social Darwinism'. He argues that the individual (rather than the collectivity) is the unit of analysis that evolves, that evolution takes place through natural selection, and that it affects social as well as biological phenomenon.

Related Topics:
Herbert Spencer - Thomas Malthus - First Principles - 1860

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In many ways Spencer's theory of 'cosmic evolution' has much more in common with the works of Lamark and August Comte than Charles Darwin. Darwin's theory is concerned with population, while Spencer's deals with the way an individual's motives influence humanity. Darwin's theory is probabilistic, i.e. based on changes in the environment that sooner or later influence the change of individuals, but do not have any single, specific goal. Spencer's is deterministic (the evolution of human society is the only logical consequence of its previous stage), fatalistic (it cannot be influenced by human actions), single path (it travels a single path, cannot skip any stages or change them) and progressively finalistic (there is a final, perfect society that will be eventually reached). Darwin's theory does not equal progress, except in the sense that the new, evolved species will be better suited to their changing environment. Spencer's theory introduces the concept of social progress - the new, evolved society is always better than the past.

Related Topics:
Lamark - August Comte - Charles Darwin - Population - Humanity - Probabilistic - Environment - Deterministic - Fatalistic - Progress - Social progress

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Spencer's work also served to renew interest in the work of Malthus. While Malthus's work does not itself qualify as Social Darwinism, his 1798 work An Essay on the Principle of Population, was incredibly popular and widely read by Social Darwinists. In that book, for example, the author argued that as an increasing population would normally outgrow its food supply, this would result in the starvation of the weakest and a Malthusian catastrophe. According to Michael Ruse, Darwin read Malthus' famous Essay on a Principle of Population in 1838, four years after Malthus' death.

Related Topics:
Malthus - Malthusian catastrophe - Michael Ruse

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