Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher and sociologist who applied evolutionary ideas to society and coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.”

Evolution: Change in inherited characteristics across generations, including the diversification and adaptation of living organisms. Spencer extended evolutionary language beyond biology to explain social change.
Social evolution: The transformation of societies over time in their organization, institutions, and complexity. This names the broad process Spencer used to interpret historical change.
Charles Darwin: An English naturalist whose theory of evolution by natural selection explained biological adaptation and common descent. Darwin adopted Spencer’s phrase “survival of the fittest” in later editions of On the Origin of Species.
The Synthetic Philosophy: Herbert Spencer’s multivolume project unifying knowledge through principles of evolution and differentiation. This was the major body of work through which Spencer built his system.
Auguste Comte: A French philosopher who founded positivism and helped establish sociology as a discipline. Comte’s project of a science of society formed a backdrop to Spencer’s sociology.
Social differentiation: The growth of specialized roles and institutions within a society. Spencer treated increasing specialization as a defining feature of social development.
Thomas Henry Huxley: An English biologist and public advocate of evolutionary theory who debated the moral implications of evolution. Huxley challenged Spencer’s confidence that evolutionary struggle could ground social ethics.
The Study of Sociology: Herbert Spencer’s 1873 book arguing that systematic study of society requires overcoming personal and social biases. The book helped establish sociology as a distinct subject for public discussion.
Thomas Malthus: An English economist who argued that population tends to grow faster than food supply. Malthusian competition influenced the evolutionary reasoning Spencer applied to society.
Social integration: The coordination and interdependence that connect specialized parts of a society. Differentiation, in Spencer’s account, required stronger coordination among social parts.

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