Urban America
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Social Darwinism
Day 7 Section 6.3 (Appleby 230-232)
Should we stop Simba? Or should we let nature take
its course? What if we applied this to society?
Read the following quote. How would you
describe his philosophy?
• "Before the tribunal (judge) of nature a man has no
more right to life than a rattlesnake; he has no more
right to liberty than any wild beast; his right to
pursuit of happiness is nothing but a license to
maintain the struggle for existence..."
• —William Graham Sumner, "Earth-hunger, and
other essays," p. 234.
• THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE
Objectives: By the end of this lesson you
should be able to:
• Define Laissez-faire
• Identify William Graham Sumner and his
philosophy Social Darwinism
• Identify Andrew Carnegie and his
philosophy of the Gospel of Wealth
• Develop your political view on the role of
government in economics
Discussion Questions
What did you observe?
What justifies who would survive and who would die?
Who was Charles Darwin?
• English Scientist
• Wrote Origin of the Species
(1859)
• Major Theories
– Survival of the Fittest
• Only species who adapt to changing
environments live
– Natural Selection
• Nature chooses who will live and
who will die by creating certain
adaptations for some and not others
• Seemed to support American
ideal of “rugged individualism”
What if we apply this
ideology to other
aspects of society?
Race, nationality,
economics
What is a Laissez-Faire Economic Policy?
• “let it (nature) be”
• Government should stay
out of economy
• Based on Adam Smith’s
“The Wealth of Nations”
– Hated mercantilism
– Let Invisible Hand of
nature run economy
• Wealth is “merely the
working out of the law of
nature and the law of
God.”
– John D. Rockefeller
Is there any justification for such economic
disparity?
Describe William Graham Sumner’s idea of Social
Darwinism.
• Social Darwinism
– belief proposed by Sumner that
people in society compete for
survival and that superior
individuals, groups, etc. become
powerful and rich
• Natural selection
– fittest succeed
– unfit sink into poverty and
become extinct
• The rich are so rich because
they’re better
Describe Carnegie’s childhood and teenage years.
• Poor immigrant
• Rags to Riches
– 1st Job as a Bobbin Boy in textile factory
• $1 per week
• 5:30 AM to 7:30 PM (6 days a week)
• Messenger in telegraph office (14)
– $2.50 per week
– Became assistant to president in PA RR
– Invested savings in RR & oil
– Began own business manufacturing iron
bridges
– Used Bessemer Process for manufacturing
inexpensive steel
– Purchased Homestead Steel 1889
– Sold to JP Morgan for $480 million ($13.2
What is the Gospel of Wealth ?
• Carnegie’s essay that says
justifies social Darwinism
• ‘Natural aristocracy’
should control economy
• BUT, Wealthy have
obligation to aid the less
fortunate
– Help them help themselves
• Laissez-Faire is
beneficial to all because
weak links are
eliminated, best rise to
the top
http://historymatters.g
mu.edu/d/5766/
Thomas
Eakins
Presentation