89-456: Social Evolution is the title of an essay by Benjamin Kidd , which became available as a book published by Macmillan and co London in 1894. In it, Kidd discusses the basis for society as an evolving phenomenon, with reference to past societies, the important developments of his own period of thriving capitalist industry, and possible future developments. The book is important in that it summarises
178-512: A chattel . It has appeared necessary to devote some space to this subject, inasmuch as that usually acute writer Sir Henry Maine has accepted the word "tenure" in its modern interpretation and has built up a theory under which the Irish chief "developed" into a feudal baron . I can find nothing in the Brehon laws to warrant this theory of social Darwinism, and believe the further study will show that
267-507: A "mission in life" to be a self-made "social prophet" as were Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer . He spent his seventeen years as a clerk preparing for his mission. His preparation began as reading books written by others. During the last ten years, Kidd focussed on writing Social Evolution , the book that propelled him into international fame. Royalties from the publication of his Social Evolution in 1894 allowed Kidd to leave his job. In short order, he went from being an obscure clerk to
356-510: A "rags to riches" story. Kidd's first job began in 1878 when he began work as a clerk to the Board of Inland Revenue at Somerset House in London. To get this job, Kidd (at age 18) passed the lower division civil service examination. In London, Kidd's life was "frugal and solitary," but his ambition drove him to attend evening classes and to read incessantly. Kidd's frugality was necessitated by
445-560: A certain amount of sympathy with them, and to perform various services for them. The Committee of Union and Progress in the Ottoman Empire adopted Social Darwinist ideology. Belief that there was a life-or-death conflict between Turks and other ethnicities motivated them to carry out genocides and ethnic cleansing campaigns against the Armenians . Social Darwinism enabled them to view extermination of entire population groups and
534-639: A continuation of Christian altruism in "the ideal of permanent goodwill among nations" with arbitration taking the place of war. However, looking at the period preceding World War I, Kidd saw a "great pagan retrogression" exemplified by the German author Ernst Haeckel in The Riddle of the Universe , a retrogression that repudiated the Christian altruistic sanction of loving one's enemies. Kidd's hope for
623-402: A dozen. One assessment of Kidd summarized his thinking as follows: Another historian, Robert C. Bannister assessed Kidd in the context of Social Darwinism . In Bannister's reading, Kidd caused a "flurry" by his "pop sociology." It won Kidd an immediate recognition, but in the long run "confounds and embarrasses later generations." In addition to the five books listed below, Kidd "produced
712-532: A full-time "social prophet," he was free to travel as a celebrity. Between 1894 and 1902, Kidd traveled extensively in the United States and Canada (1898), and in South Africa (1902). He also became acquainted with many important people in London in the circles of politics, science, and literature. While in the United States, in an interview with The Outlook (New York), Kidd expressed optimism about
801-410: A high degree probable—namely, that any animal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts, the parental and filial affections being here included, would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as soon as its intellectual powers had become as well, or nearly as well developed, as in man. For, firstly, the social instincts lead an animal to take pleasure in the society of its fellows, to feel
890-601: A large business is merely a survival of the fittest ... the working out of a law of nature and a law of God." Robert Bork (1927–2012) backed this notion of inherent characteristics as the sole determinant of survival in the business-operations context when he said: "In America, the rich are overwhelmingly people—entrepreneurs, small-business men, corporate executives, doctors, lawyers, etc.—who have gained their higher incomes through intelligence, imagination, and hard work." Moreover, William Graham Sumner (1840–1910) lauded this same cohort of magnates, and further extended
979-583: A life of "ever increasing seclusion." However, he continued to write and lecture. In 1908, he lectured at the University of Oxford on the subject of "Individualism and After." In 1911, he wrote the article on "Sociology" in the Encyclopædia Britannica . From 1910 to 1914, Kidd wrote The Science of Power . However, the beginning of the first World War necessitated revision by his son, Franklin Kidd, for posthumous publication in 1918. After
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#17327662090281068-470: A man or of a race. Ernst Haeckel 's recapitulation theory was not Darwinism, but rather attempted to combine the ideas of Goethe , Lamarck and Darwin. It was adopted by emerging social sciences to support the concept that non-European societies were "primitive", in an early stage of development towards the European ideal, but since then it has been heavily refuted on many fronts. Haeckel's works led to
1157-493: A moral guide in human society. While there are historical links between the popularization of Darwin's theory and forms of social Darwinism, social Darwinism is not a necessary consequence of the principles of biological evolution. While the term has been applied to the claim that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection can be used to understand the social endurance of a nation or country, social Darwinism commonly refers to ideas that predate Darwin's publication of On
1246-523: A prolific amount of occasional journalism, contributions to journals, encyclopaedias, reviews, columns, interviews, and letters for weeklies in Britain and America." The interview in the United States that was published in The Outlook: A Family Paper (1 September 1894) under the title of "The Future of the United States" evoked widespread comment for its optimism. This article incorporates text from
1335-423: A publication in the public domain : Daniel Coit Gilman , Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby, eds. The New International Encyclopaedia , Vol 13 (Dodd, Mead, 1906) s. v. "Benjamin Kidd," 215. Social Darwinism Social Darwinism is the study and implementation of various pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of
1424-698: A scientific and medical conference held in Munich in 1877. He noted how socialists, although opponents of Darwin's theory, used it to add force to their political arguments. Schmidt's essay first appeared in English in Popular Science in March 1879. There followed an anarchist tract published in Paris in 1880 entitled "Le darwinisme social" by Émile Gautier . However, the use of the term was very rare—at least in
1513-565: A short period of ill-health Kidd died of heart disease at South Croydon on 2 October 1916." The Science of Power (1918) During the last six years of his life, when Kidd was writing The Science of Power , the likelihood of a global conflict increased. Because of this, Kidd’s earlier optimism about the evolution of human society evaporated. He turned away from Darwinism and imperialism. His earlier praise of western civilization turned into "a searing indictment." The Science of Power (1918) repeated Kidd's earlier success. Looking back, he saw
1602-414: A warlike and restless clan, for example, the sicklier man may have occasion to be alone, and may therefore become quieter and wiser; the one-eyed man will have one eye the stronger; the blind man will see deeper inwardly, and certainly hear better. To this extent, the famous theory of the survival of the fittest does not seem to me to be the only viewpoint from which to explain the progress of strengthening of
1691-613: Is Struggle ). Hitler often refused to intervene in the promotion of officers and staff members, preferring instead to have them fight amongst themselves to force the "stronger" person to prevail—"strength" referring to those social forces void of virtue or principle. One key proponent was Alfred Rosenberg , who was hanged later at Nuremberg. Such ideas also helped to advance mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Germany, especially Aktion T4 , which targeted mentally ill and disabled people in Germany. The argument that Nazi ideology
1780-711: Is a fallacy of appeal to nature . While most scholars recognize historical links between the popularisation of Darwin's theory and forms of social Darwinism, they maintain that social Darwinism is not a necessary consequence of the principles of biological evolution . Social Darwinism is generally accepted to be a pseudoscience . Scholars debate the extent to which the various social Darwinist ideologies reflect Charles Darwin 's own views on human social and economic issues. His writings have passages that can be interpreted as opposing aggressive individualism, while other passages appear to promote it. Darwin's early evolutionary views and his opposition to slavery ran counter to many of
1869-615: Is a struggle between one social group and another. The weak invariably become the prey of the strong, the stupid invariably become subservient to the clever. By the 1920s, social Darwinism found expression in the promotion of eugenics by the Chinese sociologist Pan Guangdan . When Chiang Kai-shek started the New Life movement in 1934, he "... harked back to theories of Social Darwinism", writing that "only those who readapt themselves to new conditions, day by day, can live properly. When
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#17327662090281958-524: The Cáin Saerrath and the Cáin Aigillne relate solely to what we now call chattels, and did not in any way affect what we now call the freehold , the possession of the land. Despite the fact that social Darwinism bears Charles Darwin's name, it is primarily linked today with others, notably Herbert Spencer , Thomas Malthus , and Francis Galton , the founder of eugenics. In fact, Spencer
2047-540: The Transactions of the Royal Historical Society . Fisher was commenting on how a system for borrowing livestock called "tenure" had led to the false impression that the early Irish had already evolved or developed land tenure ; These arrangements did not in any way affect that which we understand by the word "tenure", that is, a man's farm, but they related solely to cattle, which we consider
2136-533: The Fortnightly Review called Kidd's history "muddled and perverted" and described the book as "a wordy confusion . . . without real definiteness or point." "Kidd's writings had been important documents of their time. They faded into obscurity as circumstances changed after the First World War." — Oxford Dictionary of National Biography In 1903, Kidd moved away from London for
2225-543: The Gilded Age . Some argue that the rationale of the late 19th-century " captains of industry " such as John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) and Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) owed much to social Darwinism, and that monopolists of this type applied Darwin's concept of natural selection to explain corporate dominance in their respective fields and thus to justify their exorbitant accumulations of success and social advancement. Rockefeller, for example, proclaimed: "The growth of
2314-720: The Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler. Scholars opposed to this interpretation, however, have pointed out that the Monists were freethinkers who opposed all forms of mysticism , and that their organizations were immediately banned following the Nazi takeover in 1933 because of their association with a wide variety of causes including feminism , pacifism , human rights, and early gay rights movements . Within American society, ideas of social Darwinism reached their greatest prominence during
2403-433: The social classes owe each other nothing, synthesizing Darwin's findings with free-enterprise capitalism for his justification. According to Sumner, those who feel an obligation to provide assistance to those unequipped or under-equipped to compete for resources, will lead to a country in which the weak and inferior are encouraged to breed more like themselves, eventually dragging the country down. Sumner also believed that
2492-479: The state of nature seems analogous to the competition for natural resources described by Darwin. Social Darwinism is distinct from other theories of social change because of the way it draws Darwin's distinctive ideas from the field of biology into social studies. Darwin, unlike Hobbes, believed that this struggle for natural resources allowed individuals with certain physical and mental traits to succeed more frequently than others, and that these traits accumulated in
2581-553: The "Application of the Doctrine of Evolution to Sociological Theory" as the Preface to the Encyclopædia Britannica 1902 , Vol 5. Social Evolution passed through several editions and was translated into German (1895), Swedish (1895), French (1896), Russian (1897), Italian (1898), Chinese (1899), Czech (1900), Danish (1900), and Arabic (1913). One reason for the book's success was its "violent attack on socialism" that appealed to
2670-439: The "Super-natural" rather than the natural, toward the "ultra-rational" rather than the rational for "sanctions" for their conduct. The development of Western civilization has been undergirded by the "Christian religion" that brought something new to the world: "an enthusiastic devotion to its corporate welfare". Due to the Christian religion's "altruism," Western civilization has witnessed a "great extension of political power" to
2759-518: The "misery or suffering" of humans and animals, and the evolution toward a society with "no privileged class" and "equality of opportunity". In summary, the force of Western civilization's evolution "toward the equalization of the conditions of life" lies in the "great fund of altruistic feeling generated by the ethical system on which our civilization is based" that was brought about by the Christian religion." Because Kidd’s royalties from Social Evolution had enabled him to quit his clerk’s job and be
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2848-615: The 1860s and crossed the Atlantic in the early twentieth century. But before he wrote, it was used only on rare occasions; he made it a standard shorthand for a complex of late-nineteenth-century ideas, a familiar part of the lexicon of social thought." Social Darwinism has many definitions, not all of which are compatible with one another. As such, social Darwinism has been criticized for being an inconsistent philosophy, which does not lead to any clear political conclusions. For example, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics states: Part of
2937-727: The English-speaking world (Hodgson, 2004) —until the American historian Richard Hofstadter published his influential Social Darwinism in American Thought (1944) during World War II . Hypotheses of social evolution and cultural evolution were common in Europe. The Enlightenment thinkers who preceded Darwin, such as Hegel , often argued that societies progressed through stages of increasing development. Earlier thinkers also emphasized conflict as an inherent feature of social life. Thomas Hobbes 's 17th-century portrayal of
3026-513: The Gilded Age in fact displayed little support for the ideas of social Darwinism. The Englishman H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was heavily influenced by Darwinist thought, but reacted against social Darwinism. American novelist Jack London (1876–1916) wrote stories of survival that incorporated his views on social Darwinism. American film-director Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) has been described as "just an old-fashioned social Darwinist". On
3115-773: The Origin of Species . Others whose ideas are given the label include the 18th-century clergyman Thomas Malthus , and Darwin's cousin Francis Galton who founded eugenics towards the end of the 19th century. The massive expansion in Western colonialism during the New Imperialism era fitted in with the broader notion of social Darwinism used from the 1870s onwards to account for the phenomenon of "the Anglo-Saxon and Latin overflowing his boundaries", as phrased by
3204-514: The Principle of Population , was incredibly popular and widely read by social Darwinists. In that book, for example, the author argued that as an increasing population would normally outgrow its food supply, this would result in the starvation of the weakest and a Malthusian catastrophe . According to Michael Ruse , Darwin read Malthus' famous Essay on a Principle of Population in 1838, four years after Malthus' death. Malthus himself anticipated
3293-559: The anti-philanthropic implications of Sumner's theory. Instead they gave millions to build schools, colleges, hospitals, art institutes, parks and many other institutions. Andrew Carnegie , who admired Spencer, was the leading philanthropist in the world in the period from 1890 to 1920, and a major leader against imperialism and warfare. For these and other reasons (such as the general lack of interest in academic pursuits most Gilded Age barons displayed) other writers, such as Irvin G. Wyllie and Thomas C. Leonard , argue that businessmen in
3382-535: The basis of U.S. theory and practice, commercial Darwinism operates in markets worldwide, pitting corporation against corporation in struggles for survival. Social Darwinism has influenced political, public health and social movements in Japan since the late 19th and early 20th century. Social Darwinism was originally brought to Japan through the works of Francis Galton and Ernst Haeckel as well as United States, British and French Lamarckian eugenic written studies of
3471-442: The basis of his Lamarckian belief that struggle for survival spurred self-improvement which could be inherited. A proponent in Germany was Ernst Haeckel , who popularized Darwin's thought and his personal interpretation of it, and used to contribute to a new creed, the monist movement. Sociobiology has replaced social Darwinism in attempts to explain human social behavior in terms of evolutionary biology. The term Darwinism
3560-663: The best equipped to win the struggle for existence was the American businessman , and concluded that taxes and regulations serve as dangers to his survival. This pamphlet makes no mention of Darwinism, and only refers to Darwin in a statement on the meaning of liberty, that "There never has been any man, from the primitive barbarian up to a Humboldt or a Darwin, who could do as he had a mind to." Sumner never fully embraced Darwinian ideas, and some contemporary historians do not believe that Sumner ever actually believed in social Darwinism. The great majority of American businessmen rejected
3649-539: The book as "striking and original." Alfred Marshall , an influential economist, found the book so exciting and interesting that it spawned an acquaintanceship with Kidd. Lester Frank Ward , "the acknowledged founder of American sociology," called the "tone" of Social Evolution "generally healthy." In an obituary for Kidd, Social Evolution was praised for its "originality and force." Attacks "Believers were offended by Kidd's functional defence of religion, scientists by his faith in unreason and loose speculation,
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3738-738: The claims that social Darwinists would eventually make about the mental capabilities of the poor and indigenous peoples in the European colonies. After publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, one strand of Darwin's followers argued natural selection ceased to have any noticeable effect on humans once organised societies had been formed. However, some scholars argue Darwin's view gradually changed and came to incorporate views from other theorists such as Herbert Spencer . Spencer published his Lamarckian evolutionary ideas about society before Darwin first published his hypothesis in 1859, and Spencer and Darwin promoted their own conceptions of moral values. Spencer supported laissez-faire capitalism on
3827-619: The course of an extensive series of translations of influential Western thought. Yan's translation strongly impacted Chinese scholars because he added national elements not found in the original. Yan Fu criticized Huxley from the perspective of Spencerian social Darwinism in his own annotations to the translation. He understood Spencer's sociology as "not merely analytical and descriptive, but prescriptive as well", and saw Spencer building on Darwin, whom Yan summarized thus: Peoples and living things struggle for survival. At first, species struggle with species; they as [people] gradually progress, there
3916-455: The difficulty in establishing sensible and consistent usage is that commitment to the biology of natural selection and to 'survival of the fittest' entailed nothing uniform either for sociological method or for political doctrine. A 'social Darwinist' could just as well be a defender of laissez-faire as a defender of state socialism, just as much an imperialist as a domestic eugenist. The term social Darwinism has rarely been used by advocates of
4005-483: The early 20th century actually supported better working conditions and salaries. Such measures would grant the poor a better chance to provide for themselves yet still distinguish those who are capable of succeeding from those who are poor out of laziness, weakness, or inferiority. One of the earliest uses of the term "social Darwinism" was by Eduard Oscar Schmidt of the University of Strasbourg , when reporting at
4094-431: The end of World War II—partially due to its association with Nazism and due to a growing scientific consensus that eugenics and scientific racism were groundless. References to social Darwinism since have usually been pejorative. Some groups, including creationists such as William Jennings Bryan , argued social Darwinism is a logical consequence of Darwinism . Academics such as Steven Pinker have argued this
4183-818: The evolution of human society and of the biological organism. Kidd's prolific writings had a major impact at the time. However, the world was so different after the First World War that Kidd's work became relegated to historical interest. Benjamin Kidd was born in County Clare, Ireland, on 9 September 1858, the first of eleven children of Benjamin Kidd ( c. 1831–1914), a constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary, and his wife, Mary Rebecca (1833–1916). The son did not have "early advantages of education or social position." However, his "self-belief and drive" were so strong that Kidd's life became
4272-420: The fact that the salary of a lower division clerk placed him in the lower end of the salary band of the lower middle class, £150 at most. This was barely enough to live on, with no chance of raises for 13 years. In 1887, Kidd married Maud Emma Isabel Perry of Weston-Super-Mare . They had three sons: Franklin and twins John and Rolf. Kidd could not be content to remain an unknown clerk. He believed that he had
4361-698: The fittest to sociology, economics and politics. Social Darwinists believe that the strong should see their wealth and power increase, while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. Social Darwinist definitions of the strong and the weak vary, and differ on the precise mechanisms that reward strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism , while others, emphasizing struggle between national or racial groups, support eugenics , racism , imperialism and/or fascism . Social Darwinism declined in popularity following World War I, and its purportedly scientific claims were largely discredited by
4450-561: The formation of the Monist League in 1904 with many prominent citizens among its members, including the Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Ostwald . The simpler aspects of social Darwinism followed the earlier Malthusian ideas that humans, especially males, require competition in their lives to survive. Further, the poor should have to provide for themselves and not be given any aid. However, amidst this climate, most social Darwinists of
4539-674: The future for the US and England. Both countries, he said, "were heading into a future in which the masses must inevitably enjoy equal political rights and equal social opportunities." Kidd also wrote for The Times a series of articles later published as The Control of the Tropics . Kidd came into the Social Gospel movement when, during his to America, he met the leading clergymen of the movement including Washington Gladden , Lyman Abbott . William D. P. Bliss , and Josiah Strong . Kidd
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#17327662090284628-540: The future hung on the influence of women. His praise of women in the chapter "Woman is the Psychic Centre of Power in the Social Integration" appealed to feminists. Kidd viewed women as "anti-pagan, i.e. unselfish, and devoted to the interests of the race," all "in accordance with Christian altruism. He was quoted thus - "Oh! you wise men who would reconstruct the world! Give us the young. Give us
4717-467: The great powers." While expressing appreciation for "socialist theory," Kidd stated that socialism was not viable in practice. The ambiguity in Kidd's writing was so pronounced that he was called a "Christian socialist" by some, but pro-business by others. Thus, it was that Social Evolution was both "fiercely attacked" and "fiercely supported." Support Support for Social Evolution came from notable readers. The philanthropist Charles Booth described
4806-424: The hands of the workers as Marx was claiming was inevitable, and that any communist society must ultimately fail. Herbert Spencer, whose writings were very influential in the latter half of the nineteenth century, thought that man's nature was evolving towards a state of perfection such that he would naturally live in harmony with society, but Kidd explained how this was incompatible with the neo-Darwinian theory that
4895-438: The ideological war effort against fascism to denote a reactionary creed that promoted competitive strife, racism, and chauvinism. Hofstadter later also recognized (what he saw as) the influence of Darwinist and other evolutionary ideas upon those with collectivist views, enough to devise a term for the phenomenon, Darwinist collectivism . Before Hofstadter's work the use of the term "social Darwinism" in English academic journals
4984-512: The individual in his lifetime. Thus, while not believing in any supernatural being, Kidd proposed that religion, a feature of so many past and present societies, was probably essential to the evolutionary survival of a society. Benjamin Kidd Benjamin Kidd (9 September 1858–2 October 1916) was a British sociologist whose first job was a civil service clerk, but by persistent self-education, he became internationally famous by
5073-408: The internationally famous social prophet toward which he had long worked. Kidd wrote Social Evolution with "self-confidence and conviction" that its content was of vast importance. The major theme of the book (and later works), is that religion is "the chief agency in promoting philanthropy and the political enfranchisement." In contrast, Kidd views reason as "selfish and short-sighted." The book
5162-507: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. Eugenism as a science was hotly debated at the beginning of the 20th century, in Jinsei-Der Mensch , the first eugenics journal in the empire. As Japan sought to close ranks with the west, this practice was adopted wholesale along with colonialism and its justifications. Social Darwinism was formally introduced to China through the translation by Yan Fu of Huxley's Evolution and Ethics , in
5251-821: The late-Victorian sociologist Benjamin Kidd in Social Evolution , published in 1894. The concept also proved useful to justify what was seen by some as the inevitable "disappearance" of "the weaker races ... before the stronger" not so much "through the effects of ... our vices upon them" as "what may be called the virtues of our civilisation." Winston Churchill , a political proponent of eugenics, maintained that if fewer "feebleminded" individuals were born, less crime would take place. Herbert Spencer's ideas, like those of evolutionary progressivism, stemmed from his reading of Thomas Malthus, and his later theories were influenced by those of Darwin. However, Spencer's major work, Progress: Its Law and Cause (1857),
5340-398: The life of a people is going through this process of readaptation, it has to remedy its own defects, and get rid of those elements which become useless. Then we call it new life." In the 1860s and 1870s, social Darwinism began to take shape in the interaction between Charles Darwin and his German advocates, namely August Schleicher , Max Müller and Ernst Haeckel. Evolutionary linguistics
5429-485: The masses. The altruism of Christianity caused the first stage of Western civilization's social evolution. The second stage was the Reformation that liberated the "altruistic feeling" that had been instilled by Christianity. Effects of the "great development of humanitarian feelings" that marks Western civilization include charitable giving, suppression of the slave trade, concern to remedy injustices, sensitivity for
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#17327662090285518-436: The more conservative population. Another reason was that it appealed to religionists. Kidd ascribed Western civilization's "modern progress toward the equalization of the conditions of life" to the "immense fund of altruism" that had been generated by the Christian religion. A third reason for the book's success was that Kidd predicted a future in which workers would have equal rights and opportunities. This optimism appealed to
5607-520: The murder of women and children as a necessary and justified course of action. Final solution Parties Nazi Germany's justification for its aggression was regularly promoted in Nazi propaganda films depicting scenes such as beetles fighting in a lab setting to demonstrate the principles of "survival of the fittest" as depicted in Alles Leben ist Kampf (English translation: All Life
5696-457: The phrase " survival of the fittest ", a term coined by sociologist Herbert Spencer . Creationists have often maintained that social Darwinism—leading to policies designed to reward the most competitive—is a logical consequence of "Darwinism" (the theory of natural selection in biology). Biologists and historians have stated that this is a fallacy of appeal to nature and should not be taken to imply that this phenomenon ought to be used as
5785-517: The population over time, which under certain conditions could lead to the descendants being so different that they would be defined as a new species. However, Darwin felt that "social instincts " such as "sympathy" and " moral sentiments " also evolved through natural selection, and that these resulted in the strengthening of societies in which they occurred, so much so that he wrote about it in Descent of Man : The following proposition seems to me in
5874-489: The publication of his book Social Evolution in 1894. Kidd argued that the "evolution of society and of modern civilization" is caused not by reason or science, but by the force of "religious beliefs." The book had worldwide circulation and impacted the Social Gospel movement. Kidd is reckoned as a founder of sociology as a discipline. Influenced by Darwinism and evolution, Kidd sought and found analogies between
5963-407: The question of artificial selection, yet Nietzsche's principles did not concur with Darwinian theories of natural selection. Nietzsche's point of view on sickness and health, in particular, opposed him to the concept of biological adaptation as forged by Spencer's "fitness". Nietzsche criticized Haeckel, Spencer, and Darwin, sometimes under the same banner by maintaining that in specific cases, sickness
6052-710: The scholarly by his pinched concept of rationality and his slanted account of history." One scholarly book expressed "grave distrust of the process by which Mr. Kidd reaches his conclusion" and "of the terms in which he formulates" it. Theodore Roosevelt found the book's "argument is so loose" that it could be construed as meaning contradictory things. The central point of Kidd's argument is "radically false." The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' (1927) described Social Evolution as "incoherent," "full of pretentious rhetoric," and like "sensational journalism." Academic circles never took Kidd's work seriously. A vehement critic of Benjamin Kidd's ideas about social evolution
6141-474: The social Darwinists in suggesting that charity could exacerbate social problems. Another of these social interpretations of Darwin's biological views, later known as eugenics, was put forth by Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, in 1865 and 1869. Galton argued that just as physical traits were clearly inherited among generations of people, the same could be said for mental qualities (genius and talent). Galton argued that social morals needed to change so that heredity
6230-451: The study of the history and spread of nations. Some of their ideas, including the concept of living space were adopted to the Nazi ideology after their deaths. Social evolution theories in Germany gained large popularity in the 1860s and had a strong antiestablishment connotation first. Social Darwinism allowed people to counter the connection of Thron und Altar , the intertwined establishment of clergy and nobility, and provided as well
6319-500: The supposed ideologies or ideas; instead it has almost always been used pejoratively by its opponents. The term draws upon the common meaning of Darwinism , which includes a range of evolutionary views , but in the late 19th century was applied more specifically to natural selection as first advanced by Charles Darwin to explain speciation in populations of organisms . The process includes competition between individuals for limited resources, popularly but inaccurately described by
6408-496: The theory of "corporate Darwinism". Sumner argued that societal progress depended on the "fittest families" passing down wealth and genetic traits to their offspring, thus allegedly creating a lineage of superior citizens. However, contemporary social scientists reject such claims and have understood that economic status is largely a result of other factors. In 1883 Sumner published a highly-influential pamphlet entitled "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other", in which he insisted that
6497-599: The thinking of Herbert Spencer as well as others like Karl Marx at the end of the nineteenth century when many people were trying to make sense of Darwin's evolutionary ideas, and social Darwinism was a hot topic. Kidd finds flaws in the ideas of both Spencer and Marx. With no knowledge of World War I that was to come in 1914, or the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Kidd explained the flaw in Marx's thinking, and predicted that capitalist industries would not ultimately fall into
6586-557: The workers who in the Gilded Age were often "consigned to lives of bitter toil with little hope for advancement." "The very foundations of human thought have been rebuilt" by the emergence of Darwinian science (viii). To those "who have caught the spirit of Darwinian science" of evolution, a basic question is whether "religious systems have a function to perform in the evolution of society". An evolution of society has occurred unlike anything in "previous history", and it has been "religion" that effected it. People have always turned toward
6675-494: The works of Lamarck and Auguste Comte 's positivism than with Darwin's. Jeff Riggenbach argues that Spencer's view was that culture and education made a sort of Lamarckism possible and notes that Herbert Spencer was a proponent of private charity. However, the legacy of his social Darwinism was less than charitable. Spencer's work also served to renew interest in the work of Malthus. While Malthus's work does not itself qualify as social Darwinism, his 1798 work An Essay on
6764-452: The world was interpreted by Haeckel as supporting the idea that nations, despite having rather similar physiology, represented such distinct lines of 'evolution' that mankind should be divided into nine different species. Haeckel constructed an evolutionary and intellectual hierarchy of such species. In a similar vein, Schleicher regarded languages as different species and sub-species, adopting Darwin's concept of selection through competition to
6853-527: The young. Do what you will with the world, only give us the young. It is the dreams which we teach them: it is the Utopias which we conceive for them: it is the thoughts which we think for them which will rebuild the world. Give us the young before the evil has held them and we will create a new Heaven and a new Earth." by Sir Robert Baden-Powell in a Paper "SCOUTING AND GUIDING IN EDUCATION." A list of assessments of Kidd by historians since 1915, names over
6942-729: Was a conscious decision, to avoid both the over-breeding by less fit members of society and the under-breeding of the more fit ones. In Galton's view, social institutions such as welfare and insane asylums were allowing inferior humans to survive and reproduce at levels faster than the more "superior" humans in respectable society, and if corrections were not soon taken, society would be awash with "inferiors". Darwin read his cousin's work with interest, and devoted sections of Descent of Man to discussion of Galton's theories. Neither Galton nor Darwin, though, advocated any eugenic policies restricting reproduction, due to their Whiggish distrust of government. Friedrich Nietzsche 's philosophy addressed
7031-417: Was being accepted as a result of August Weismann 's doctrine of germ-line transmission without modification. Kidd's major claim is that religion makes sense when seen as what he calls a 'supra-rational sanction' for our behaviour, which acts in the interest of survival of the group, and the yet-to-be-born members of the group, and is necessarily in conflict with our basic human instincts which act in favour of
7120-530: Was coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in his March 1861 review of On the Origin of Species , and by the 1870s it was used to describe a range of concepts of evolution or development, without any specific commitment to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The phrase social Darwinism first appeared in Joseph Fisher's 1877 article on The History of Landholding in Ireland , which was published in
7209-452: Was necessary and even helpful. Thus, he wrote: Wherever progress is to ensue, deviating natures are of greatest importance. Every progress of the whole must be preceded by a partial weakening. The strongest natures retain the type, the weaker ones help to advance it. Something similar also happens in the individual. There is rarely a degeneration, a truncation, or even a vice or any physical or moral loss without an advantage somewhere else. In
7298-487: Was not described as a social Darwinist until the 1930s, long after his death. The term "social Darwinism" first appeared in Europe in 1880, and journalist Emilie Gautier had coined the term with reference to a health conference in Berlin 1877. Around 1900 it was used by sociologists, some being opposed to the concept. The American historian Richard Hofstadter popularized the term in the United States in 1944. He used it in
7387-445: Was now an international celebrity. As such, he faced numerous requests for interviews, articles, and lectures. His fame so "frightened" him that he mostly declined requests and thus missed out on lucrative fees. He remained a "withdrawn personality" who was "ill at ease" in public. Social Evolution was marked by its ambiguity. It oscillated between "utopian socialism" and "doomsday economism" that would lead to "global conflict between
7476-418: Was quite rare. In fact, ... there is considerable evidence that the entire concept of "social Darwinism" as we know it today was virtually invented by Richard Hofstadter. Eric Foner , in an introduction to a then-new edition of Hofstadter's book published in the early 1990s, declines to go quite that far. "Hofstadter did not invent the term Social Darwinism", Foner writes, "which originated in Europe in
7565-446: Was released two years before the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species , and First Principles was printed in 1860. In The Social Organism (1860), Spencer compares society to a living organism and argues that, just as biological organisms evolve through natural selection, society evolves and increases in complexity through analogous processes. In many ways, Spencer's theory of cosmic evolution has much more in common with
7654-465: Was strongly influenced by social Darwinist ideas is often found in historical and social science literature. For example, the philosopher and historian Hannah Arendt analysed the historical development via social Darwinist ethics to racist ideology. Another example is recent scholarship that portrays Ernst Haeckel's Monist League as a mystical progenitor of the Völkisch movement and, ultimately, of
7743-461: Was taken as a platform to construe a Darwinian theory of mankind. Since it was thought at the time that the orangutan and human brain were roughly the same size, Darwin and his colleagues suspected that only the invention of language could account for differentiation between humans and other Great Apes . It was suggested that the evolution of language and the mind must go hand in hand. From this perspective, empirical evidence from languages from around
7832-619: Was the freethinker and music critic Ernest Newman . Under his pseudonym Hugh Mortimer Cecil, Newman criticized Kidd's notion of progress and the teleological content of his model of social evolution as pseudoscience. Kidd's Principles of Western Civilization (1902) received negative reviews as reported in The Review of Reviews . The review in the Positivist Review used such terms as "imbecility," "sonorous fatuity," "rank nonsense," and "metaphysical bamboozlement." The review in
7921-406: Was timely because "evolution and naturalism" were threatening some religious beliefs. Kidd offered a faith that took into account and made use of these new discoveries. Kidd is characterized as a "social darwinist" . The term "social evolution" was first used in 1853. It saw parallels between the new theories of biological evolution and the evolution of societies. Kidd wrote about these parallels in
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