Darwinism and American Society. The role of Darwinism in America

The role of Darwinism in America
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The role of Darwinism in America
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was critical in shaping how Americans viewed humanity. The theory was the basis for social Darwinism where the proponents believe in “survival of the fittest.” The ideas he is that particular individuals are powerful in society because they have some innate qualities than the rest. Social Darwinism has been used to justify inequality, eugenics, and racism, a view that Funder mentalism Christians have opposed.
Darwinism was responsible for classifying some people as superior and others as inferior. While Darwin used his theory to describe the biological world, some sociologists took up the ideas and adopted them to describe the human social world (Barta, 2005). These social Darwinists used evolution to indicate their understanding between the existing gap between the rich and the poor and also the differences between cultures. The wealthy businesspeople were considered to be economically successful because they possessed some “innate” characteristics that made them superior. The rich were thought to be “naturally fittest” which made them more superior to the others. On the contrary, the poor were termed as “naturally weak” because they lacked the means of surviving (Guvenc-Salgirli, 2009). The poor were thought to exist at the mercies of the rich. Hence, the more affluent members of the society were justified to oppress the low-income earners. Social Darwinism was extended to argue that the government should stop programs meant to assist the poor members of society. Since poverty was as a result of natural inferiority, assisting such individuals was unnecessary.
Social Darwinism and eugenics were applied to demean immigrants from other areas as inferior to those from Britain. Eugenics entails the study of the improvement of human characteristics under controlled breeding (Aultman, 2006). The ultimate aim of eugenics is to increase the probability of having humans with the desired characteristics. A majority of eugenicists held that they could create a world that was free from social evils like po...