Lecture 12: Social Darwinism
What were Peter Kropotkin's views?
- he argued against SD, was an anarchist -wrote "mutual aid" in (1902) -believed that main driving force of evolution was COOPERATIVE instincts -struggle against environment -was different from darwin's theory of NS -travelled to northern Asia, where climate was harsh (unlike darwin and Wallace who went to warm climates) -witnessed individuals cooperating in harsh climates -said that the instinct to help one another was MORE BASIC than love and sympathy -eg. apes live in social groups, animals have self-sacrificing behaviour (get benefits of living in group + mutual aid as well)
Who was Herbert spencer? (1820-1903)
- he was a journalist and engineer - significant intellectual (evolution of society) - popularized malthusian competition (in 1850s) as the source of societal progress -coined the term "survival of the fittest" before darwin's theory (1852) - before darwin, he had a concept of change and evolution but was more larmarckian - believed in societal progress through competition -opposed charity by government or any government intervention in society (should be no control of wages, factory safety initiatives since they slowed down progress) -after darwin's theory, his views rebranded as "social darwinism" - very influential figure in 19th Century -cosmic evolution: said that social and biological evolution are part of the same process; a product of the struggle between individuals. struggle must be supported for societal progress (sustained + undiluted)
Who was Thomas Malthus? (1766-1834)
- he was an advocate of the lassiez faire ideal -added "struggle for existence" to the theory -because there was a rapidly growing population, and a slower growth in resources some people would be winners and others would be losers -believed the whole of society would improve with this struggle
biological darwinists vs. social darwinists
-biological darwinists weren't necessarily social darwinists -Wallace wrote against SD (argued that humans could guide their own evolution0 -didn't believe that competition would lead to progress -humans were NOT subject to the laws of the world, since we could guide our own evolution -he didn't try to form government norms using biological theories
What were darwin's views?
-darwin maintained a Neutral evolutionary theory through out his life -but due to the language he used in theory (borrowed words from Spencer and Malthus) his theory was easily applied to the social realm -SD + rediscovery of mendelian genetics led to Eugenics
Who was Andrew carnegie? (1835-1919)
-he was a scottish-american industrialist -expanded american steel industry -social darwinism was used to justify competition and individual success (esp. in america, this was used by "gilded aged industrialists") -said that state should NOT support lower class/needy people - however, also believed that rich people shouldn't hoard their wealth and advocated for giving money to charity upon death (ironic since he advocated for no state interference) -believed that success was derived by hard work; competition and difficulty drive progress -if you require assistance you're probably not worthy of it (but certain events undermined this idea such as great depression because even hard working people needed help during that time) -historical events undermined Social Darwinian principles
Why was Spencer so prominent?
-he was speaking on things that were relevant individuals of that time eg. progress of industrialization in England, but also great poverty in cities eg. family structure broken apart as individuals moved to the cities to get more benefits
Competition
-not just between individuals, but also between races + nations -social darwinism was used to support colonial practices, imperialism, and scientific racism - european countries spreading their influence across world was justified as natural and as a result of competition (western european rooting) -pre-darwin there were theories of hierarchy of races (lamarckian view) where different races were considered different developmental stages -darwin had a branching system of race (each race branched off once it adapted to its environment) so no hierarchy exits -BUT thinkers around Darwin's time still advocated for hierarchy (b/c europeans lived in harsher, colder climates, they were more evolved + superior) - though that was not a direct hierarchy, they believed that certain races better than others due to adaptation to env. -believed races could improve through race competition (thus this justified colonialism + social economic practices already occurring) -social darwinism was attempt to justify already occurring social practices via a biological method
What were TH Huxley's views?
-said that we cannot derive ethical structures or political structures from evolution - good people follow nature just as much as bad people -evolution is not competent enough to explain why what we consider good is good, and what we consider bad is bad -written in "evolution+ ethics" (1893)
Who was Adam Smith?
18th century economist. -in late 18th century he wrote "wealth of nations" (1776) - laissez-faire Capitalism -economic progress is the result of competition - to maintain wealth, we must have unfettered economy where individuals can compete with one another -there should be a natural progression of competition (state should allow this) -this competition would lead to improved society (idea of inherent progress)
What was the relationship between Darwin's evolution by NS and Social darwinism?
Not a simple causal relationship, but both definitions required a concept of NS as the first step of evolution.
What was social darwinism?
The application of Darwin's theory of natural selection to the evolution of human society. It was a variety of efforts to derive social, moral and political principles from evolutionary biology. Larson argues that SD + Rediscovery of mendel's work led to eugenics. SD was different from eugenics since it was more broad (applied to governance, ethics) and it overlapped with eugenics in terms of breeding in population.
