SOCIAL DARWINISM: CHARACTERISTICS, AUTHORS AND CONSEQUENCES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The social Darwinism is a theory that proposes that human groups and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection proposed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin. It is a theory that takes the postulates of the survival of plants and animals in nature, but applied to human societies.

The theory was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During that time, the “less strong” diminished and their cultures were delimited, while the stronger grew in power and cultural influence over the weak.

Charles Darwin

Social Darwinists held that life for human beings in society was a struggle for existence governed by biological theories of "survival of the fittest." The first who coined this proposal was the English philosopher and scientist Herbert Spencer.

Social Darwinism is characterized by having a variety of past and present social policies and theories; from attempts to reduce the power of governments to theories that try to understand human behavior. This concept is believed to explain the philosophy behind racism, imperialism, and capitalism.

characteristics

This theory was formally put forward by Herbert Spencer and coined in the late 19th century. It was derived primarily from the works of the naturalist Charles Darwin, especially the work entitled The Origin of Species and Natural Selection.

Darwin's theory of natural selection holds that the members of a species most likely to survive and procreate are those with traits that provide an adaptive advantage to a specific environment.

For example, giraffes with long necks would have an advantage over short necks, because they reach higher to eat leaves, in an environment where food is in the high branches of the trees. This would allow them to feed better, surviving and being able to reproduce. With the passage of time, it would be the long-necked giraffes that would survive, the short-necked ones becoming extinct.

Social Darwinism proposes that humans, like animals and plants, compete in a struggle for existence. Within the phenomenon of natural selection proposed by Darwin, the result of the struggle is the survival of the fittest.

General ideas

Darwinism as a science was influenced by its social context, specifically by the capitalism that reigned in England. In the struggle for survival in a context with limited resources, some "species" survived and others did not (within 19th century society).

At that time Darwin's theories were on the rise, so many theorists and sociologists were propagators of these highly controversial postulates. Social Darwinists established that women, non-whites, and the lower or working class did not have the physical and mental capacities necessary to thrive in the modern world.

Darwin himself claimed that the so-called "wild races" had a lower cranial capacity than that of European or class man. At that time, many intellectuals were convinced that there was a relationship between brain size and intelligence.

Stances and criticisms of social Darwinism

Herbert Spencer

Francis Galton was an English anthropologist who, together with Spencer, managed to incorporate other ideas related to the innate racial superiority of the upper classes. Through his work entitled Hereditary Genius, written in 1869, he managed to show that a large number of scientists, intellectuals, and philosophers came from small upper-class strata.

Galton claimed that the particular characteristics of individuals are passed on to future generations. A good breed is essential for the well-being of the descendants and if reproduction is maintained among this group, there is a greater chance of achieving social stability.

In his work Hereditary Genius, Galton studied family trees over a period of 200 years. He argued that a large number of intellectuals, politicians, scientists, poets, painters, and professionals were blood relatives.

In short, Galton explained the reluctance to mix freely; He suggested that it should be strategically. He concluded that it would be far more practical to produce a race of highly gifted men through arranged marriages over several generations.

Like Spencer, he directly associated the biological theories of genetics and evolution with the need to generate a much stronger offspring within the social context.

Eugenics

Eugenics is one of the most extreme forms of Social Darwinism. It is linked to the racist doctrines of Nazi Germany. This concept is one of the fundamental pillars of the ideology of Adolf Hitler, who created state eugenics programs.

It was the English anthropologist Francis Galton who coined the word eugenics for the study of human enhancement by genetic means. Galton believed in the idea of ​​human enhancement through selective mating.

Furthermore, he thought of arranged marriage between men of distinction with women of good social status to produce the so-called "gifted race."

William Graham Summer

William Graham Summer was an American sociologist and economist, known to have been influenced by the ideas of Herbert Spencer. Throughout his life, he exhibited a large number of essays that reflected his firm belief in individual freedom and in inequalities between men.

The American sociologist came to consider that competition for property and social status resulted in the beneficial elimination of ill-adjusted individuals. Like many social Darwinists, he settled on racial and cultural preservation.

The ethics of the middle class, the idea of ​​hard work and saving, were fundamental to the development of a healthy family life with strong public morals. He believed that the process of natural selection acting on the population results in the survival of the best competitors, as well as the continuous improvement of the populations.

Consequences

Herbert Spencer believed it wrong to help weak individuals. He suggested that this postulate helped the survival of strong individuals; the weak had to die. These ideas, sometimes labeled radical, had important effects or consequences on society.

Colonialism and imperialism

The idea of ​​social Darwinism was used to justify the acts of colonialism and imperialism, where people from a foreign territory would claim new territories, suppressing the indigenous people.

Furthermore, it was a theory that protected and excused the acts of imperialism, in which one country extends control and power over another. For social Darwinists, if the individuals of a country cannot defend themselves from the control of others, they were not fit to survive in that society.

The Holocaust phenomenon was, in part, defended by the ideas of Social Darwinism. Adolf Hitler's argument to generate a genocide of such magnitude was justified through the ideas of inferior genetics.

The former German president justified the mass murder of the Jewish people during World War II as a necessary purge of a genetics that he considered inferior. Hitler claimed that the Aryan race or the perfect race had the power to liberate the world.

For the Nazis, the survival of the human race depended on its ability to reproduce. They believed that the Aryan race was the one with the best chance of survival, unlike the Jews, who were seen as one of the weaker races.

The thought of social Darwinism resulted in the arbitrary classification of supposedly weaker groups, as well as the murder of large masses.

Confusion between theories

1. Social Darwinism, Encyclopedia Website, (nd). Taken from encyclopedia.com
2. Darwinism, History and Biographies, 2018. Taken from historiaybiografias.com
3. William Graham Sumner, Wikipedia in English, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
4. Social Darwinism, The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018. Taken from Britannica.com
5. Is Partner Darwinism Still Alive? Daily Times Piece, 2013. Taken from dailytimes.com