Social Darwinism is a term used to describe a concept in social theory which holds that Darwin's theory of evolution of biological traits in a population by natural selection can also be applied to competition between societies or groups within a society espousing variations in ethic and underpin a political ideology with success determined by shifts in the number of adherents to a particular ideology. It is also used to critique human social institutions. Initially expressed in the writings of English philosopher and author Herbert Spencer, and of William Graham Sumner, Social Darwinism first became popular in the late 19th century and continued in popularity until the end of World War II. The application of the term to 19th and 20th century modes of thought, however, generally did not occur until after the publication of American historian Richard Hofstadter's Social Darwinism in American Thought in 1944, which codified the concept in the sense it is generally used today. Thus the term is an anachronism, although it is still widely used by historians. In many ways it would be more proper to call it "Social Spencerism" instead of "Social Darwinism".

Historically, proponents of Social Darwinism often used the theory to justify social inequality as being meritocratic, and it has also been used to justify racialism and imperialism, in a cultural application of Herbert Spencer's idea of the "survival of the fittest." Thus, Spencer's notion of the evolution of society and man's moral faculty had been altered to something quite contrary to his philosophy. Social Darwinism itself does not necessarily engender a political position. Some Social Darwinists argue for the inevitability of progress and social reform, while others emphasize the potential for the degeneration of humanity. To a certain extent, Social Darwinism, like Darwinian evolution, has been associated with the controversial field of Eugenics. Social Darwinism was also an important facet of National Socialist ideology, but it also was used by many Anarchists and Communist. For example, the Anarchist communist philosopher Peter Kropotkin was a Social Darwinist, believing that many forms of collectivism were present in biology.

While Social Darwinism applies the concept of evolution and natural selection to human cultural systems, the extent to which the ideologies related to it are a part of Darwin's biological theory of evolution or Spencer's classical liberal philosophy is arguable. One convention adopted by Anthony Lyons (qv) is to use social darwinism (lower case letters) to signify an approach which is based on the ideas of Charles Darwin, but Social Darwinism (capital letters) to signify ideas furnished directly by Darwin's writing.

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who would've thought that enrolling in medicare would turn out to be another form of social darwinism where only the proactive survive..?
ohtheboredom (Sean) Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:49:50 -0000
who would've thought that enrolling in medicare would turn out to be another form of social darwinism where only the proactive survive..?
Social Darwinism needs to take effect: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/26/medicaid-system-leaks-millions/
misbehaveinla (misbehaveinla) Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:03:29 -0000
Social Darwinism needs to take effect: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/26/medicaid-system-leaks-millions/
@KatieRose131 What's the point in having them if the Subscribe to Social_Darwinism RSS feed