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.

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