How social Darwinism and the role it played in US economic development?

[Binku]

How social Darwinism and the role it played in US economic development?

[vitoke.neatalv]

from wikipedia

Social Darwinism in the most basic form is the idea that biological ideas can be extended and applied to the social realm. However, the term has generally been used by critics rather than advocates of what the term is supposed to represent (Bannister, 1979; Hodgson, 2004). It has been applied to the claim that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection or by "survival of the fittest" can be used to understand the evolution of society: just as competition between individual organisms drives biological evolutionary change (speciation), competition between individuals or groups in human societies drives social evolution.

The simpler aspects of social Darwinism followed the earlier Malthusian ideas that humans, especially males, need competition in their lives in order to survive in the future, and that the poor should have to provide for themselves and not be given any aid, although most social Darwinists of the early twentieth century supported better working conditions and salaries, thus giving the poor a better chance to provide for themselves and distinguishing those who are capable of succeeding from those who are poor out of laziness, weakness, or inferiority.

Similarly, capitalist economics, especially laissez-faire economics, is attacked by some socialists by equating it to social Darwinism because it is premised on the idea of natural scarcity, also the starting point of social Darwinism, and because it is often interpreted to involve a "sink or swim" attitude toward economic activity.

[Paul W]

It's been a very cynical process. Historically Social Darwinism has been grafted on to the basic idea of American capitalism as a simple, convenient ethos that can justify anything. Social Darwinism seems to have been a major driver, as well as philosophical and political plank for economic and social prerogatives in the US since the late 19th century. The rights of big capital, as expounded by Social Darwinism, at the expense of the "lesser" interests, particularly public,have been a hallmark of corporate policies for decades.

The business and social environment created by this motif has contributed to massive changes in the society. In workforces, the workplace, and domestic economic activities, the effects of the various free trade and cheap labor methodologies promoted by current economic Social Darwinism have come home to roost.

The survival of the fattest has done some real damage to equity and capital within the society, . By application, economic Social Darwinism has created the bizarre situation where corporations outweigh governments in terms of their effects on daily life and the national economy.

It is unarguable that the rights of big capital do need some sort of advocacy, but it's debatable whether SD is the best or most appropriate for a nation which is based on democracy and the rule of law. It's also unarguable that the wrongs of big capital show SD in its true light. Enron was a case in point, held up by SD-like mythology in the form of market image, long after the death.