Social Darwinism's Impact on History

Social Darwinism’s Impact on History Social Darwinism was a new ideology developed in the late 1800s, which was influenced by the ideas of Charles Darwin about nature. [ (Lockard 2011) ] It supported the revival of imperialism and colonialism. Ultimately, the idea led to the notion of “survival of the fittest”, which this phrase was originally coined by Herbert Spencer. [ (Quest 2000) ] Social Darwinism had its positive and negative effects on society. Negatively, it supported colonialism, which is the government of one society over another society, and it supported imperialism, which is the control or domination, directly or indirectly, of one state or people over another. Therefore, the Social Darwinists believed that if the peoples indigenous to the area were not able to fend off military forces, than they were not fit to live; thus, it was acceptable to take over their territory or enslave them. For example, Social Darwinists thought that Asian and African societies were lacking in industrialization and were not up to speed with the western civilizations; therefore, they thought that their own nations were more superior and had the right to rule over the “less fit”. [ (Lockard 2011) ] Social Darwinism also led to the increase of racism. Although western civilizations had admired the Chinese in the prior 1700s, Europeans and North Americans developed stereotypes such as “John Chinaman” and the “heathen Chinee”. [ (Lockard 2011) ]These stereotypes were accepted by the majority of western societies. They believed that the “less fit” societies would benefit from the western civilizations’ culture; therefore, they wanted to introduce it to the east. For example, the British Cecil Rhodes proclaimed, “I contend that we British are the finest race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.” [ (Lockard 2011) ] Social Darwinists believed that by introducing their culture to the lesser societies that they were

Bibliography: Lockard, Craig A. The World: Volume 2. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. Quest, Think. thinkquest.org. 2000. http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml (accessed July 17, 2013).