Social Darwinism
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Social Darwinism was an
Application of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to society; used the concept of the "survival of the fittest" to justify class distinctions and to explain poverty.
Social Darwinists believed that
everyone could make it to the top if they worked hard enough, survival of the fittest.
The poor were consitered
lazy and responcible for their own fate
Social Darwinism argued
that evolution was as natural a process in human society as it was in nature and that government must not interfere. Failure to advance in society was widely thought to indicate a lack of character.