Social Darwinism

or so·cial Dar·win·ism

[ soh-shuhl dahr-wuh-niz-uhm ]

noun

, Sociology.

1. a 19th-century theory, inspired by Darwinism, by which the social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions and in accord with which a position of laissez-faire is advocated.

social Darwinism

1. A theory arising in the late nineteenth century that the laws of evolution , which Charles Darwin had observed in nature, also apply to society. Social Darwinists argued that social progress resulted from conflicts in which the fittest or best adapted individuals, or entire societies, would prevail. It gave rise to the slogan “survival of the fittest.”

Other Words From

• So·cial Dar·win·ist so·cial Dar·win·ist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Social Darwinism¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

He implied that abortion is a form of social Darwinism, a theory used to justify the discredited and racist practice of eugenics, which aimed to “improve” the human race through planned breeding based on genetic traits.

From Washington Post

“Though eugenics were once fashionable in the Commanding Heights and High Court, they hold less purchase after the conflict, carnage, and casualties of the last century revealed the bloody consequences of social Darwinism practiced by would-be Übermenschen,” Kacsmaryk wrote in the ruling.

From Washington Post

That acceptance was facilitated by the popularity of the pseudoscience of social Darwinism and a fabricated story that Reconstruction had been a monstrous time of rule by ignorant black people, rather than the largely successful period of progressive and democratic reform that it actually was.

From Salon

Still, to argue that Lochner provided the judicial underpinnings for an era of social Darwinism, as many of its critics have contended, was grossly unfair, according to Mr. Bernstein, the George Mason professor.

From New York Times

Surely this is obvious today as all vestiges of the social contract, social responsibility and modes of solidarity that get people working together give way to a form of social Darwinism with its emphasis on violence, privatization, ruthlessness, cruelty, war, modes of hyper-masculinity and a disdain for those considered weak, dependent, alien or economically unproductive.

From Salon