![]() Social Darwinism, as it came to be known, served the purposes of both liberals and conservatives. ![]() At the same time, by highlighting competition and the survival of the fittest as the drivers of evolution, it seemed to explain both the emergence of the fittest - fabulously wealthy elites and giant corporations, as well as the unfit - the masses of poor in the teeming city slums. Extrapolations from Darwinism, with its emphasis on evolutionary progress, offered reason for hope that a new and better social order could emerge from the turbulence. The world was in the midst of vast and frightening changes - industrialization, urbanization, immigration, class war, and mass poverty - which no one understood and to which no one could offer solutions. Under the circumstances, this is not surprising. Throughout the western world, journalists, academics, and social reformers were quick to appropriate Darwin’s theories about the evolution of life forms to explain trends in social and economic life. The impact of British biologist Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and other writings went well beyond the audience of natural scientists to whom it was addressed. In: Antebellum Period, Civil War, Reconstruction, and Progressivism, Eras in Social Welfare History, Poverty, Social Welfare Issues Social Darwinism and the Poorīy Peter Dobkin Hall, School of Public Affair, Baruch College, City University of New YorkĬharles Darwin Photo by Henry Maull and John Fox ![]()
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