Compare And Contrast Darwin And Herbert Spencer

In the late 19th century the teachings of a British political and social scientist, Herbert Spencer, began to gain some adherents in the United States. Spencer based his ideas upon the theory of evolution advanced by Charles Darwin. This theory held that all biological organisms evolved over the course of millions of years and that those species that were best able to adapt to the natural environment survived. Spencer broadened this concept to include all social, as well as biological organisms, and asserted that society evolved by adapting to the environment through social selection. William Graham Sumner was a professor of political science at Yale University. William Graham Sumner was a classical liberal American social scientist. He taught social sciences at Yale, where he held the nation's first professorship in sociology. He was one of the most influential teachers at Yale or any major schools. He was born in Paterson, New Jersey on October 30, 1840 and he died on April 12, 1910 in New Haven, Connecticut. His main interest was Sociology. He accepted and expanded Spencer's ideas and was the leading American spokesman for what became known as "Social Darwinism." Sumner insisted that natural laws applied to society and all social organisms and that man should not interfere with the workings of these natural laws. Those social organizations (businesses, races, nations, or any other social group) which survived and prospered were those who best adapted to the social
Although they differed greatly, there were still things that made them alike. They both addressed the urban and industrial society of the 19th century and explained the situation of the poor. Both of them had some connection to Protestant ethics or religion. Both of them were also opposed by fundamentalists, such as Dwight Moody and Billy Sunday, who preached the literal interpretation of the Bible and individual