Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism applies evolutionary competition to human society, often treating social hierarchy, imperialism, or laissez-faire policies as natural outcomes of a struggle for survival.

Herbert Spencer: An English philosopher who coined “survival of the fittest” and applied evolutionary ideas to society. His writings supplied the phrase and framework commonly associated with Social Darwinism.
Survival of the fittest: A phrase describing the persistence of organisms best adapted to their environments. The phrase was transferred from evolutionary explanation to judgments about social winners and losers.
Imperialism: A policy of extending a state’s power over other territories and peoples. Evolutionary rhetoric was used to portray imperial conquest as a natural contest among nations.
Evolutionary biology: The branch of biology that studies evolutionary processes and the diversity of life. It provides scientific frameworks that Social Darwinism turns into social and political prescriptions.
Charles Darwin: An English naturalist whose theory of evolution by natural selection transformed biology. Social Darwinists borrowed evolutionary concepts from a theory primarily developed to explain biological change.
Natural selection: The process by which heritable traits affecting reproduction become more or less common across generations. Social Darwinism recasts this biological process as a model for human institutions.
Racism: Beliefs or practices that rank people by presumed racial categories and justify unequal treatment. Social Darwinist claims often borrowed racial hierarchies to present inequality as biological destiny.
Social Darwinism and Darwinism: A distinction between evolutionary biology and political doctrines that apply evolutionary competition to society. The label does not mean that Darwin’s biological theory entails Social Darwinist policies.
Thomas Malthus: An English political economist who argued that population growth tends to outpace food production. His account of scarcity influenced evolutionary thinking about competition for resources.
Social stratification: The structured ranking of people and groups within a society. Social Darwinist arguments portray unequal social positions as products of competition or adaptation.

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