Social Darwinism Vs Ethnocentrism

Julie Cole Soc100
Discussion 7 10/7/14 There are many different types of racial classification systems. The two most interesting to me are social Darwinism and ethnocentrism. These classification systems have made a significant difference on society over time. Social Darwinism is based on the “survival of they fittest” who ever is strongest to survive will have dominance in inferior races. Ethnocentrism is judging other groups by one’s own standards and values. This group views others groups with “otherness”. These groups discriminate towards many different people and can cause conflict with those races what do not fit into their standards. Charles Darwin brought Social Darwinism to light. His theory of natural selection was published in 1859. He argued that acquired attributes were not transmitted, change could only occur through the positive selection of mutations. According to Darwin this means that one must choose the strongest group of people and only allow them to reproduce to help change the genetic pool and help our
society to more forward and evolve to a new group. This theory made people question the popular belief that climate influenced racial differences and it showed that some racial lineages were more deeply rooted and long-standing than others. Using social Darwinism people got the idea that some people, who were defined by their race, are better fit for survival than others. This means that this group would become more dominant to other races. The French scientist Comte de Buffon came up with ethnocentrism in his studies.
His study of scientific racism what intended to help make sense of people who were different from white Europeans. Those white Europeans were the norm according to Buffon and there needed to be an answer about these different people they kept encountering. Ethnocentrism was Buffon’s way of thinking that was the judgment of other groups by one’s own standards and values. More so than the social Darwinism, ethnocentrism is more forward because the judgment is so strong. Social Darwinism allows people to have a reason behind their racism, ethnocentrism judge people because they do not do the same things that they do, they do not follow the norm. Ethnocentrism is very straightforward and does not have many exceptions to the norm. If people are not just like Europeans, they are viewed as abnormal, improper, and
inferior. Social Darwinism is a racial classification that is based on survival of the fittest. The group who is most apt to survive is considered the dominant group. This helps change the gene pool and allows for changes in the genetics and increases the amount of people who can survive. Ethnocentrism is the judgment of other groups based on the norm for the group that person is from. This was used most for the Europeans and if they were not like the Europeans they were considered the non-dominant group of people. Both of these racial classifications separated people by some of the smallest differences, it shows that racial issues went way back, and there is a lot more than just to color of one’s skin that separated people.