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Concept
Social Darwinism
Summary
Social Darwinism is the study and implementation of various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in Western Europe and North America in the 1870s. Social Darwinists believe that the strong should see their wealth and power increase while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. Social Darwinist definitions of the strong and the weak vary, and also differ on the precise mechanisms that reward strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism, while others, emphasizing struggle between national or racial groups, support eugenics, racism, imperialism and/or fascism.
Social Darwinism declined in popularity following the First World War, and its purportedly scientific claims were largely discredited by the end of the Second World War—partially due to its association with Nazism and due to a growing scientific consensus that eugenics and scientific racism were groundless. Later reference to social Darwinism was usually pejorative.
Some groups, including creationists such as William Jennings Bryan, argued that social Darwinism is a logical consequence of Darwinism. Academics such as Steven Pinker have argued that this is a fallacy of appeal to nature. While most scholars recognize some historical links between the popularisation of Darwin's theory and forms of social Darwinism, they also maintain that social Darwinism is not a necessary consequence of the principles of biological evolution. Social Darwinism is generally accepted to be a pseudoscience.
Scholars debate the extent to which the various social Darwinist ideologies reflect Charles Darwin's own views on human social and economic issues. His writings have passages that can be interpreted as opposing aggressive individualism, while other passages appear to promote it.
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