A History of Science in Society: From Philosophy to Utility, 3rd edition by Cormack Lesley & Ede Andrew

Author:Cormack, Lesley & Ede, Andrew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Higher Education Division
Published: 2016-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism

Darwin’s theory struck a chord with educated Britons because, in many ways, it corresponded to social theories that had already been articulated. Evolution by natural selection fit especially well with Herbert Spencer’s (1820–1903) ideas and become a major explanation for social growth and development. Widely popular, Social Darwinism justified the belief in progress on one hand and the need to manipulate nature and society to achieve this progress on the other. This collection of theories taught people that evolution happened whether it was desired or not and, therefore, that civilized people were obligated, once conscious of it, to use this evolutionary force for good.

Herbert Spencer was a Quaker by birth, and after an early career as a railway engineer, he worked as a writer and sub-editor for The Economist. A small inheritance allowed him to devote his life to studying and writing, especially about the human condition. In such books as Social Statics (1851) and Principles of Psychology (1855), Spencer argued that the development of human societies could be explained as an evolution from simplest (native tribes) to most complex (European imperialist states). Like Darwin, Spencer was influenced by Malthus and saw life as a struggle in which only the strong tended to survive. He coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” to explain this phenomenon. In order to ensure the strongest and best society, he argued that it was desirable to keep state control to a minimum. Spencer did not support a completely individualistic morality, however, but maintained that strong communities were based on understanding the natural unity of interests of individuals. Survival of the fittest was thus key to the economic and social progress of mankind. These theories, when applied to race, were used as a justification for segregation (to keep the weaker races from mixing with the stronger) and subjugation (the strong had a moral and natural imperative to control the weak).

Spencerianism and forms of Social Darwinism provided justifications for capitalism, laissez-faire economics, and arguments against a welfare state. It should come as no surprise that one of Spencer’s biggest fans was the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

Other forms of social Darwinism stressed the struggle between races or nations, thus justifying the military and industrial competition taking place in Europe. These theorists believed that war was a way of winnowing out inferior nations. “Might is right” provided a justification for imperialism, since, according to its rationale, inferior races deserved to be exploited and controlled. Social Darwinism also had an individual expression in eugenics, which was presented by its proponents as the science of race. Eugenists claimed that the state had a duty to limit the multiplication of its least fit citizens and to encourage its most fit to increase. An early proponent of this was Francis Galton (1822–1911), a cousin of Charles Darwin, who wrote Hereditary Genius in 1869.

7.7 Pedigree of Man

A “family tree” based on an anthropocentric interpretation of Darwin’s theory of evolution. This schema presents humans as the ultimate product of evolution.

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