UNIT II: SOCIAL DARWINISM AND PROGRESSIVISM

Social Darwinism

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) is one of the most important books in
the annals of both science and history. In Origin and in his subsequent writing Darwin
offered a revolutionary scientific theory: the process of evolution through natural
selection. In short, natural selection means that plants and animals evolve over time in
nature as new species arise from spontaneous mutations at the point of reproduction and
battle with other plants and animals to get food, avoid being killed, and have offspring.
Darwin pointed to fossil records, among other evidence, in support of his theory.

Soon, some sociologists and others were taking up

words and ideas which Darwin had used to describe
the biological world, and they were adopting them to
their own ideas and theories about the human social
world. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, these Social Darwinists took up the language
of evolution to frame an understanding of the growing
gulf between the rich and the poor as well as the many
differences between cultures all over the world.

The social Darwinists—notably Herbert Spencer and William

Graham Sumner in the United States—believed that the process of natural selection
acting on variations in the population would result in the survival of the best competitors
and in continuing improvement in the population. Societies were viewed as organisms
that evolve in this manner. The explanation they arrived at was that businessmen and
others who were economically and socially successful were so because they were
biologically and socially “naturally” the fittest. Conversely, they reasoned that the poor
were “naturally” weak and unfit

1
and it would be an error to allow the weak of the species to continue to breed. The
believed that the dictum “survival of the fittest” (a term coined not by Charles Darwin but
by the British sociologist Herbert Spencer) meant that only the fittest should survive.

Unlike Darwin, these sociologists and others were not biologists. They were adapting and
corrupting Darwin’s language for their own social, economic, and political explanations.
While Darwin’s theory remains a cornerstone of modern biology to this day, the views of
the Social Darwinists are no longer accepted, as they were based on an erroneous
interpretation of the theory of evolution.

 Survival of the fittest = the greatest happiness of the fittest: big business
(trusts) absorbed smaller ones: those that best adjust to the changes survive; those who
don’t, die. The big companies were the fittest because they were able to defeat and
absorb the smaller ones by creating MONOPOLIES or TRUSTS. Small entrepreneurs
couldn’t compete with them and they had to depend on the charity of the fittest ones to
survive. Charity4 was not good because it fostered the survival of the least fit. So, the
ultimate result would be progress at the expense of the weak and the consolidation of
Trusts (ex. Rockefeller) – there were no legislations against Trusts. The ACCUMULATION
OF WEALTH is the best evidence of being fit.

This ideology coexisted with PROGRESSIVISM. Spencer reconciled Darwin’s theory with
American Optimism, since for him evolution implied not only change, but also progress.
Social Darwinian language was used to support:

 Policy of Laissez-faire Capitalism: Minimum state intervention because any action

from the government would hinder individual freedom and would interfere in the process
of survival of the fittest by helping less fit members.

 Racism and class stratification was justified on the basis of “natural” inequalities
among individuals

2
  Imperialist, colonialist policies sustaining belief in Anglo-Saxon or Aryan cultural
and biological superiority.

During and after World War II, the arguments of Social Darwinists lost popularity in the
United States due to their association with Nazi racial propaganda. Modern biological
science has completely discredited the theory of Social Darwinism.

Progressivism

 The period of US history from the 1890s to the 1920s is usually referred to
as the Progressive Era, an era of intense social and political reform aimed at
making progress toward a better society.

 Progressive Era reformers sought to harness the power of the federal government
to eliminate unethical and unfair business practices, reduce corruption, and
counteract the negative social effects of industrialization.
 During the Progressive Era, protections for workers and consumers were
strengthened, and women finally achieved the right to vote.
PANORAMA OF THE US AT THE END OF THE 19th C
POSITIVE ASPECTS NEGATIVE ASPECTS

Growth in wealth, population and Poor living conditions

power Exploitation of labor and low wages

Feeling of general prosperity Denial of the suffrage to women

Political Corruption

Rapid construction of cities Poor public health Poverty

and crime

3
 Confidence in the economy Fear of social upheaval with the rise of the
radical left

The problems of industrialization

Though industrialization in the United States raised standards of living for many, it had a
dark side. Corporate bosses, sometimes referred to as “robber barons,” pursued
unethical and unfair business practices aimed at eliminating competition and increasing
profits. Factory workers, many of them recent immigrants, were frequently subjected to
brutal and perilous working and living conditions. Political corruption enriched politicians
at the expense of the lower and working classes, who struggled to make ends meet. The
gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” was widening.

The Progressive movement arose as a response to these negative effects of

industrialization. Progressive reformers sought to regulate private industry, strengthen
protections for workers and consumers, expose corruption in both government and big
business, and generally improve society. According to the Progressive reformers Progress
could only be achieved through SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, ECOLOGICAL, and
MORAL reforms.

Social Reforms

To improve the situation of the workers and to regulate child labor.

Economic Reforms

The economy was in the hands of big businesses: period of Trust-busting. It was very
difficult to pass legislation to control the trusts and to put an end to laissez faire. Wilson
claimed that “all Trusts should be eliminated”. There was a community of interests
between business people and the government.

Political Reforms

4
To make the country a more democratic one.

Moral Reforms

To do away with corruption

The Dark Side of Progressivism

 It produced the largest number of lawbreakers: emergence and consolidation of

gangsters.

 Though Progressive reformers achieved many noteworthy goals during this period,
they also promoted discriminatory policies and espoused intolerant ideas. The
Wilson administration, for instance, despite its embrace of modernity and progress,
pursued a racial agenda that culminated in the segregation of the federal
government. The years of Wilson’s presidency (1913-1921) witnessed a revival of
the Ku Klux Klan and a viciously racist backlash against the economic and political
gains of African Americans in the post-Reconstruction period.^55start superscript,
5, end superscript

 Labor unions, which were very active in Progressive politics, supported restrictions
on immigration and spewed xenophobic rhetoric that blamed immigrants for low
wages and harsh working conditions in factories across the nation.