survival of the fittest united states theory rich poor

Since the natural processes demand that the weak be eliminated, state intervention is seen as detrimental to this process. Social Darwinism was used to propagate ideologies of colonialism, imperialism, eugenics and racism. In fact, it is used more in terms of sociological and political context. Even though social Darwinists focused on the concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest, their arguments had very little to do with Darwin’s biological concepts of evolution. The rich had control over property and was perceived to possess superior qualities such as industriousness, morality, and temperance. Since there were natural inequalities among people, class stratification was the natural outcome. Thus, the rich grew over the poor and the weak. Social Darwinism propagates the belief that society, as an organism, survives by eliminating the weak, in this case the poor, while the stronger units, that is, the rich, survive as the fittest. However, none of them explicitly used the term ‘social darwinism’ to describe their work. The main proponents of social darwinism are Herbert Spencer, Thomas Malthus and William Graham Sumner. It was used to support laissez faire and political conservatism as an opposition to the rise of fascism. However, the modern concepts of social Darwinism did not evolve until the 1940’s and 1950’s with the advent of ideologies like fascism. The term ‘social darwinism’ was coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in his review of Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1860. It was popularized by Richard Hofstadter in 1944. Social Darwinism is referred to the group of theories which propagate the notion that society exists and survives on the same line as biological natural selection and survival of the fittest, as propagated by Charles Darwin.

Survival of the fittest united states theory rich poor