Social Darwinism was very attractive to European political leaders and scientists in the 1920’s. The theory was used to justify a lot of state policies and interventions. Firstly, social Darwinism was used by leaders to promote industry and capitalism. The gilded age of increased trade and industry was as a result of the mercantilist school of wealth creation. The age saw the promotion of laissez-faire capitalism by what trade and industry increased. The owners of industry who were largely politicians used the theory to advance commerce, which aided the rich and exploited the poor. The gilded age was characterized by rampant corruption and an increasing disconnect between the rich and the poor. The leaders of industry increased their wealth at the expense of the working class.
During the gilded age, wages were low, and mechanization started replacing skilled labor. Protests began erupting, but the leaders used social Darwinism to stem the riots. They argued that if workers were not willing to take lower wages, then cheaper mechanization would have to suffice. It was this same Darwinist argument that was used to oppose the formation of trade unions. Due to worker unrest, trade unions were formed to advocate workers’ rights. However, the leaders of industry opposed the formation of trade unions and in some states legislation was passed barring their activity. The leaders of industry were highly criticized as these moves were deemed exploitative by the citizenry. Social Darwinism was thus used to promote industry during the gilded age at the expense of the poor in society.
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"How Did Europeans Use Social Darwinism To Justify Empire Building".
Social Darwinism was also used by some reformist leaders to oppose the creation of social welfare systems to aid the disadvantaged. They argued that the provision of social welfare to the poor contravened the laws of natural selection since it involved taxing the rich and giving it to the poor. Herbert Spencer epitomizes public policy stand by some libertarians. He believed that governments should not play any role in providing free primary education. To him and many others, the creation of social welfare programs was a betrayal of capitalism and economic individualism.
Another reason leaders favored social Darwinism was that it was used to justify imperialism. The rule of the jungle according to social Darwinism was that the strongest will feed on the weak. Strong western nations were successful at nationalism and increasing their territories, and as such they should exploit the lesser nations. It was this hunger to dominate that saw the Western political powers compete to gain political territory in what is termed as the scramble for Africa. Africans were seen as racially inferior beings who needed the control of the more intelligent and superior Europeans. Governments used social Darwinism to influence their citizenry to join the great scramble that saw the colonization of many African nations . Social Darwinism was hence used to justify European imperialism and racism.
Social Darwinism was highly criticized for its role in promoting the Holocaust. The Nazis justified the Holocaust as a means of cleaning out the inferior Jews. Adolf Hitler believed that the Germans were superior to the Jews and thus the Jews had to be eliminated. He also viewed the crippled and old people as weak and useless, and hence killed them . To promote his ideas, Hitler showed videos of predators killing other animals. Social Darwinism was thus used as the justification for one of the cruelest acts against the human race.
For scientists, the attraction came from the study of eugenics. Scientists were curious to know about eugenics due to the spread of social Darwinism. Many scientists advocated positive eugenics where people with desired traits reproduce more than those with less- desired traits. Scientists in the USA began tests to show the idea of biological determinism in humans. Other scientists opposed the idea and started their tests. Tests on the IQ scores of the US army demonstrated low scores, with tests also showing that many of the soldiers with low IQ scores were very heroic and resourceful. The field of science was thus very attracted to the social Darwinism school of thought.
In conclusion, social Darwinism is the ideology that only the strongest of humans survive in the natural process of life. Social Darwinism draws its theories from the work of Charles Darwin on evolution. Social Darwinism has been criticized widely for its application and implications on human society. The theory has been used as a justification for racism, imperialism, a laissez faire system of capitalism and the Nazi holocaust. Its supporters believe that competition will always pick out the strongest winners who are those who survive. Natural selection will ensure that only the strongest species will survive, leading to an evolutionary process where only the dominant and superior humans remain.
