Daily Times

“The world of nature is a Darwinian world”, says the evolutionary biologist Professor- Richard Dawkins. He further says that he does not like to live in a world that is based on ‘Darwinian Principles’, as it would be a terrible society. Dawkins believes that a society based on Darwinian Principles would be a ruthless free market economy in which the rich trample the poor. He goes on to provide that we should seek to understand the Darwinian world of nature and formulate a society in which we wish to live.

To understand Dawkins observations, I feel that we first understand what is meant by ‘Social Darwinism’, which was coined by renowned English sociologist, Herbert Spencer in the 19th century in his book Social Statics.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published Origin of Species, which explained his theory of animal and plant evolution based on ‘natural selection’. Soon afterward, philosophers, sociologists, and others began to adopt the idea that human society had also evolved. The philosopher, Herbert Spencer was a prominent Social Darwinist in the late 19th century who used Darwin’s theory of “evolution to justify extreme laissez-faire capitalism as natural and right in the sense that free competition ensured the survival of the fittest.” Darwin’s theory inspired Spencer to write more books, showing how society evolved. With the financial support of friends, Spencer wrote more than a dozen volumes in 36 years. His books convinced many that the destiny of civilisation rested with those who were the ‘fittest’.

Spencer based his social evolution popularly known as Social Darwinism on individual competition. Spencer believed that competition was ‘the law of life’ and resulted in the ‘survival of the fittest’. “Society advances,” Spencer wrote, “where its fittest members are allowed to assert their fitness with the least hindrance.” He went on to argue that the unfit should “not be prevented from dying out.” The population of unfit people would slowly decline and would be died out because of their failure to compete. The government in this regard would not do anything for stopping unfit people from dying otherwise this would be violence against the evolution of civilisation. Spencer further stated that government should get out of the way of the fittest people as they can do whatever they pleased in competing with others as long as they did not infringe on the equal rights of other competitors. Spencer believed his own England and other advanced nations were naturally evolving into peaceful ‘industrial’ societies.

However, a different interpretation is provided by Russian Anarchist, Peter Kropotkin in his book Mutual Aid: a Factor of Evolution, which was published in 1902. Kropotkin argues that “Competition is not the rule neither in animal nor in mankind rather it is an exception. He found in his observation of animals “an innate feeling of sympathy with their own species expressed in mutual association in time of need or danger.” He further explains that life in societies ensure survival. Kropotkin provides a number of examples of co-operation between animals (such as crabs, ants and eagles) and humans living in tribal societies within his book. He believed that history books unduly focus on war neglecting the mutual aid and co-operation that is evident from our own experiences.

Here, it can be formulated that Social Darwinism is not a single defined concept but is generally used to describe the use of struggle of existence and ‘survival of fittest’ to justify social policies that make no distinction between those who support themselves and those who unable to support themselves. Such views and mindset welcome competition between in laissez faire capitalism but similar concepts have motivated ideas of racism, imperialism, eugenics, fascism, and Nazism. The Social Darwinism theory was wrongly used to justify the racist and imperialistic polices in Europe and America. For instance, Hitler murdered people belonging to the Jewish faith in Germany, Poland and other countries and provided the justification based on Social Darwinism.

The duty of the government is to protect the property of people from criminals and second duty of the government is to defend its country from foreign invasion. Any other action of the government termed as ‘over legislation’ as per Spencer. In economic context, he believed that laissez-faire system tolerated no government regulation of private enterprise. He considered most taxation as confiscation of wealth and undermining the natural evolution of society. “Spencer assumed that business competition would prevent monopolies and would flourish without tariffs or other government restrictions on free trade. He also condemned wars and colonialism, even British imperialism. This was ironic, because many of his ideas were used to justify colonialism. But colonialism created vast government bureaucracies. Spencer favoured as little government as possible.”

Historians often called the period of 1870 to 1900s the Gilde Age. This was an era of rapid industrialisation, laissez-faire capitalism, and no income tax. Captains of industry like John D Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie made fortunes. They also preached ‘survival of the fittest’ in business. American scholars like sociologist William Graham Sumner praised the new class of industrial millionaires. Sumner argued that social progress depended on the fittest families passing on their wealth to the next generation.

According to the Social Darwinists, capitalism and society itself needed unlimited business competition to thrive. By the late 1800s, however, monopolies, not competing companies, increasingly controlled the production and prices of goods in many American industries. Workers’ wages and working conditions were unregulated. Millions of men, women, and children worked long hours for low pay in dangerous factories and mines. There were few work-safety regulations, no worker compensation laws, no company pensions, and no government social security. Although wages did rise moderately as the United States was industrialised, frequent economic depressions caused deep pay cuts and massive unemployment. Labour union movements emerged, but often collapsed during times of high unemployment. Local judges, who often shared the laissez-faire views of employers, issued court orders outlawing worker strikes and boycotts. Starting in the 1880s, worker strikes and protests increased and became more violent. Social reformers demanded a tax on large incomes and the breakup of monopolies. Some voiced fears of a Marxist revolution. They looked to state and federal governments to regulate capitalism. They sought legislation on working conditions, wages, and child labour.

In England, Spencer grew increasingly pessimistic as he witnessed a swelling tide of legislation that attempted to end the evils of industrialisation and laissez-faire capitalism. Spencer died in 1903, and was buried in the same London cemetery as that great enemy of capitalism, Karl Marx.

The writer is an attorney and lecturer in Law of International Trade. He can be reached at greenlaw123@hotmail.com