Industrialization
and Social Darwinism
The Social and Economic Context of
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism Defined
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Social Darwinism is the (mis)application of
and (over) extension of Darwin’s theory to
explain human society.
Social Darwinism uses Darwinian ideas like
“evolution”, “fitness”, “struggle for survival”
to “explain” and “justify” human inequalities
in wealth and power.
Types of Social Darwinism
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism
2. Collectivistic Social Darwinism
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism:
(a) misuse of “struggle” and
“struggle for survival”.
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Individualistic social Darwinism claims that human
society, like nature, is involved in a constant “struggle
for survival” between individuals in society.
The individuals may be businessmen competing
(“struggling”) against other business men for profits
and economic “survival”.
The individuals may also be individual workers
seeking to “survive” by competing (“struggling”) to
get hired, earning wages, promotions, etc…
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism
(b) misuse of “fitness”, “survival
of the fittest” and “evolution”
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As in Darwin’s theory, the “struggle for
survival” assures that only the “fit” survive
(“survival of the fittest”)
Social Darwinists claim the continuous
selection of fitter (human) individuals, drives
“social evolution”.
Individualistic social Darwinists also claim
that “social evolution” tends toward the overall
“good” of the human race.
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism
(c) consequences for social policy
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If “social evolution” is for the overall good of
society, and if it is driven by continuing
“struggle”, then:
nothing should be done to reduce the intensity
of the “struggle for survival”.
Thus, laws or government policies benefiting
the poor (“the unfit”) should be reduced or
eliminated.
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism:
(d) Key role of Herbert Spencer
One of the “founders” of
Social Darwinism was:
Spencer coined the terms “survival of the
fittest” and “struggle for survival” even
before Darwin published Origin.
If they [all people] are sufficiently complete to
live, they do live and it is well they should live. If
they are not sufficiently complete, they die, and
it is well they should die.
- Herbert Spencer, Social Statics
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Individualistic Social Darwinism:
William Graham Sumner
In the USA, William Graham
Sumner (1840-1910), an
admirer of Spencer, echoed the
same views:
“The millionaires are a product of
natural selection…”
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism
(e) connection to economic liberalism
Spencer and Sumner were also supporters of economic
liberalism. This idea dates back to Adam Smith (1723-1790)
who argued in his famous Wealth of Nations (1776) against
government regulations and monopolies typical of the preindustrial era.
In many ways Adam Smith was the
intellectual father of modern industrial
capitalism.
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism
(f) connection to laissez-faire
Laissez-faire, like economic liberalism,
opposed government interference in the
economy (no taxes, laws and regulations).
Such measures would hinder individual
freedom and economic competition, the
engine of economic growth (and thus,
supposedly, improved conditions for all).
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1. Individualistic Social Darwinism:
(g) connection to “self-help” idea.
Laissez-faire was also seen as a kind of
“self-help” and as such, was the best way to
ensure the development of individual
freedom and responsibility
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism:
(g) connection to “self-help” idea.
Samuel Smiles, one of the most
famous proponents of laissezfaire and “self-help”, put it this
way in 1859:
'Whatever is done for men or classes, to a
certain extent takes away the stimulus and
necessity of doing for themselves; and
where men are subjected to over-guidance
and over-government, the inevitable
tendency is to render them comparatively
helpless.'
1. Individualistic Social Darwinism
Thus individualistic social Darwinism fit well
into the already existing ideas of economic
liberalism, laissez-faire and self-help.
individuals are responsible for their own lives and should not
look to anyone else to take care of any of their needs.
The publication of Origin of Species by Darwin
in 1859 reinforced the same viewpoint and gave
them a supposedly scientific basis.
2. The Industrial Revolution
2. The Industrial Revolution
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Britain in the 19th century underwent the
Industrial Revolution, one of the most
important historical events in history.
The Industrial Revolution transformed Britain
from a rural, agricultural, land-based society to
an urban, industrial society.
Wealth was now based on the ownership of
capital (factories, production) and money
rather than on land.
2. The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
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Most did not share in
this growth of wealth
In the rapidly growing
cities, slums developed
where poverty, disease,
filth, and oppression
were a fact of daily
life.
Gustav Dore “Slum Neigbourhood” (1872)
2. The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Gustav Dore, “Over
London by Rail”
(1872)
2. The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Early in the 19th
century, no laws
provided for maximum
working hours,
minimum wage,
holidays, health and
safety, unemployment
or sickness insurance,
pensions or child
labour.
Child labour during the Industrial Revolution
2. The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Bicycle factory – USA early 20th
century
Child labour during the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Hannah Goode: "I work at Mr. Wilson's mill. I think the
youngest child is about 7. I daresay there are 20 under 9 years. It
is about half past five by our clock at home when we go in....We
come out at seven by the mill. We never stop to take our meals,
except at dinner.
Evidence of Textile Workers in Wilson's Mill, Nottingham:
Source; Factory Inquiry Commission, Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, 1833.
Found in Hellerstein, Hume & Offen, Victorian Women: A Documentary Accounts of
Women's Lives in Nineteenth-Century England, France and the United States, Stanford
University Press
The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Hannah Goode: “William Crookes is overlooker in our room. He
is cross-tempered sometimes. He does not beat me; he beats the
little children if they do not do their work right....I have
sometimes seen the little children drop asleep or so, but not lately.
If they are catched asleep they get the strap. They are always very
tired at night....I can read a little; I can't write. I used to go to
school before I went to the mill; I have since I am sixteen."
Evidence of Textile Workers in Wilson's Mill, Nottingham:
Source; Factory Inquiry Commission, Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, 1833.
Found in Hellerstein, Hume & Offen, Victorian Women: A Documentary Accounts of
Women's Lives in Nineteenth-Century England, France and the United States, Stanford
University Press
The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Girl dragging
coal tub up a
mine shaft
The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Famous
“Girl in Factory”
photograph.
Early 20th century,
USA
The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Punch magazine cartoon
“Capital and Labor”
2. The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
Street children
The Industrial Revolution:
Social Consequences
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In conclusion, I think it has been clearly proved that children
have been worked a most unreasonable and cruel length of
time daily, and that even adults have been excepted to do a
certain quantity of labour which scarcely any human being is
able to endure… no child under fourteen years of age should
work in a factory of any description for more than eight hours
a day. From fourteen upwards I would recommend that no
individual should, under circumstances, work more than
twelve hours a day; although if practicable, as a physician, I
would prefer the limitation of ten hours…
Testimony by a Commission of Medical Examiners from
northeastern England made to the Parliamentary Commission
for inquiry in the Employment of Children in factories, 1833
Imperialism
The Quest for Empire and World Domination
in the 19th century
Imperialism
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Imperialism= quest for empire
Empire = the economic, political or cultural
control of one state over other states or
cultures.
Imperialism
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By the end of the 19th century, the European
powers had expanded their control over most
of the world – this was the age of Empire or
Imperialism.
This was a process that had begun in the early
modern period with the voyages of discovery.
Imperialism
British Empire and Commonwealth Before 1914
Imperialism
Imperialism in Africa.
Even small countries like
Belgium held sizable
possession.
Imperialism
Imperialism lead to racist
types of ideologies, such
as depicted in this
cartoon from a Detroit
newspaper in 1899.
The idea expressed
is that the white
man is forcibly
“civilizing” the
“savage” and thus
that imperialism is
a noble cause.
Imperialism
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In Britain, famous
imperialists like Kipling
(original author of The
Jungle Book adapted by
Disney) claimed
Europeans had a
“civilizing mission”.
Bibliography
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Dore, Gustav Images from various websites
Engels, Friedrich. The Condition of the Working Class in England 1844. Panther:
London, 1969.
Hellerstein, Erna, L. Hume & K.M. Offen, Victorian Women: A Documentary
Accounts of Women's Lives in Nineteenth-Century England, France and the United
States, Stanford University Press.
Hobsbawm, Eric J. Industry and Empire, Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1999
Hofstadter, Richard Social Darwinism in American Thought. Beacon Press:
Philadelphia, 1992
Kipling, Rudyard, “The White Man’s Burden” (originally published 1899)
Parliamentary Commission for inquiry in the Employment of Children in factories,
1833.
Smiles, Samuel Self-Help (originally published 1859)
Smith, Adam The Wealth of Nations (originally published 1776)
The End