Darwinism and American Society History Essay Paper

Darwinism and American Society
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Charles Darwin used an empirical study of evolutionary biology to claim the mechanism of natural selection in which organisms are imperative to reach the age of maturity and leave behind progeny where the only natural law is the “survival of the fittest” (Kühl, 2013). However, an agnostic English philosopher named Herbert Spencer asserted an argument that Darwin's “survival of the fittest” is also true about man and society where there is no place for human compassion where only the “fit” can continue to live while the “unfit” will die off eventually; thus, giving rise to the concepts of Social Darwinism (Black, 2012). The influence of Darwinism is evident not only in European countries but America as well (Black, 2012). Although Darwinism started about 150 years ago, its massive effects, including the classification of an inferior race, the negative effects to immigrants in America and the opposition of the fundamentalist Christian sectors should be further studied since Social Darwinism contributed a great deal in the spread of racism and dehumanization of other people in America.
Herbert Spencer added that Social Darwinism is need and should be applied to all societies and cultures to for the significant improvement of the human race (Jeynes, 2011). Spencer emphasized Darwin’s implied racist concepts in his books “Origin of Species (1895)” and “The Descent of Man (1871)”about the preservation of favored races and there are specific races which are more superior than others, where Black races will first to be eradicated or become extinct compared to the White races and the Whites will move forward to the higher stage of biological evolution since they are more superior (as cited in Jeynes, 2011). In America, different families were prohibited to reproduce, prohibited from marrying, forcibly admitted to mental institutions and were even sterilized to cleanse America due to their “inferior ancestry” in order to create a superior Nordic race (Black, 2012). Using the national bureaucratic and juridical sectors of America,...