Social Darwinism: Survival Of The Fittest

Social Darwinism was a late 19th century concept that joined Darwin’s theory of plant and animal evolution to society. A sociologist by the name of Herbert Spencer was a patron of Social Darwinism and was the first to use the phrase “survival of the fittest.” He felt that society didn’t need to be improved upon and he also believed that through “natural selection,” society would take care of itself. Social Darwinism was also used by politicians of that time to promote a laissez-faire position, and encouraging the “survivors” in society to avoid intervening or altering the least in