Social Darwinism

Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer, an English sociologist and philosopher, created the doctrine of Social Darwinism and is best known for coining the phrase "survival of the fittest." He applied his philosophy of Social Darwinism to humans and their social classes. His theory came to justify laissez-faire capitalism that pushed for minimal government interference within a nation's economy.

Social Darwinism Theory

One of the main ideas behind Social Darwinism is survival of the fittest, a term coined by Herbert Spencer. He believed that the "fittest" members of society should be allowed to dominate without interference from the weak. Genetic inheritance, a core principle of Social Darwinism, stated that the fittest could inherit the ability to accumulate wealth and counterproductive stupidity and laziness. As a result, the belief that specific genetics were inherited proliferated throughout the nineteenth century.

Spencer also believed that his native England and other nations should not interfere and offer support to the weak. Instead, he thought that governments should leave everything to the strongest of society. England's Parliament came under criticism from Spencer as they passed legislation that benefitted the working class and the poor.

Social Darwinism Primary Source

Herbert Spencer was a prolific writer, often publishing books and journals. Throughout these works, he discusses everything from sociological theory to psychology. The following table shows the main works of Spencer.

Social Darwinism Gilded Age

The ideals of Social Darwinism infiltrated every aspect of Gilded Age society, from capitalism to immigration and imperialism. Herbert Spencer was a strong proponent of laissez-faire capitalism which allowed business owners to operate without very few or no government regulations. Many industrialists and other business owners ran with Spencer's laissez-faire and "survival of the fittest" mentality. Without restrictions and government interference, monopolies dominated the economic landscape of America, eliminating almost all competition.

While the wealthy embraced the ideals behind Social Darwinism, the poor and working classes strongly opposed the theory as it directly threatened the way they lived. The wealthy monopolists continued to amass greater fortunes, but the working class decided to unify against the disproportionate wealth gap in America. Groups of workers unified together into labor unions to fight for decent working conditions and wages. The severe social disruption caused by Social Darwinism led to anti-trust legislation that aimed to end monopolies. For example, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, passed in 1890, sought to give power to the federal government to end monopolies and create competitive economic conditions.

Social Darwinism Examples

The most specific example of Social Darwinism is seen through America's Gilded Era. American historian, Richard Hofstadter, argued that Herbert Spencer's ideology in Social Darwinism spurred industrialist Andrew Carnegie and Yale Sociologist William Graham Sumner's "visions of unbridled and unrepentant capitalism."¹ Andrew Carnegie, along with other capitalists/industrialists of the Gilded Era, used Social Darwinism as evidentiary support for ruthless economic competition that often crushed the working social class. However, the doctrine of Social Darwinism dominated American thought up until WWII.

Immigration into America

The theory of Social Darwinism strongly influenced American opinion towards immigration throughout the second industrial revolution (1870-1914). Due to Social Darwinism's take on inferior races, many white Americans believed that new immigrants (from Southern and Eastern Europe) were inferior. Though Anglo-Saxon Americans themselves were descendants of immigrants, the "new immigrants" were deemed inferior because of their language and ethnicity. Social Darwinism plagued American thinking until WWII when Nazi Germany regularly used the theory in their rhetoric and propaganda.

Hitler's Nazi Germany

Adolph Hitler, leader of Germany's Third Reich, used Social Darwinism as a key element in his political and social ideologies. For example, the clearest application of Social Darwinism can be seen in Hitler's Holocaust of the Jewish people during WWII. Hitler believed that weeding out the weak Jews was tantamount to a unified Germany. Another key example was the dominance of the Aryan race perpetuated throughout Germany before and during WWII. The belief in Aryan superiority also led to a eugenics movement that killed the disabled or weak to make way for a purer race of Germans.

America's Eugenics Movement

Beginning in the early nineteenth century and lasting well into the twentieth century, America's eugenics movement sought to eradicate all unwanted genetic traits through selective breeding. The movement embraced forced sterilization and forbade people with mental disabilities and mixed races from marrying. "As a result, between 1907 and 1939, more than 30,000 people were sterilized unknowingly or against their consent."² Many of the sterilizations happened in California against women who were believed to be too immoral or harmful mothers.

2. Brooke Carlaw, "Early American Eugenics Movement," 2019.