SOCIAL DARWIN

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ISM

YESEUNG JUNG SEONGPIL JUN JUNGWOO SON

PRESENTED BY

DARWIN Middle class in English

family Deep interest in sci-

ence Influenced by his

grandfather Erasmus Darwin

Entered Cambridge University

Becomes clergyman

FAMILY

The most momen-tous development in Darwin’s life.

Left London in 1831 Galapagos Island Clergy natural sci-

entist

DURING HIS VOYAGEDARWIN

AFTER HIS VOYAGEDARWIN

Wrote long statement about his theory

Letter from Alfred Rus-sel Wallace

Published On the Origin of Species

Became famous

Social Darwinism A belief which states that the strongest or

fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to extinct.

Social Darwinism was popular among The theory was chiefly expounded by Her-

bert Spencer, whose ethical philosophies al-ways held an elitist view and received a boost from the application of Darwinian ideas such as adaptation and natural selec-tion.

Social DarwinismHerbert Spenser (1820-1903) Relied on theories of

evolution to explain differences between the strong and the weak

Social Darwinism “Survival of the Fittest”

“Natural Selection”

Justification of Imperialism Using Social Darwinism

Darwin-“Biological superiority”• European white race represented a major ad-

vance over other “races”.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)• Races of successful individuals had competed better

in the natural world evolved to higher states than the less fit people.

Joseph Gobineau (1816-1882)• Claimed that race is the most important “index of human potential.”

• Africans: intelligent and lazy• Asians: smart but docile • The Native Americas: dull and arrogant• EUROPEANS: INTELLIGENT, NOBLE and MORALLY SUPERIOR TO

OTHERS.

Racist Thinkers: identify racial groups based on skin color, bone struc-ture, nose shape, cra-nial capacity and other physical characteris-tics.

Emphasizing superiority of Europeans

Race theorists reflected the European imperial dominance in the world.

TargetsIn Europe: Jews

In the United States: Black people

In Sweden: misfits, deviants, gypsies and others.

EUROPEANS>OTHERS

IMPACT OF SOCIAL-DARWINISM OF MODERN SOCIETY

The Nazi Holocaust- Superiority of Aryan race.• K

illed over 5 million Jews

• Massacred at least 375,000 “inadequate” people.

U.S developed sense of superiority over Filipinos.• C

onstant torture

• Using degrading words to refer to the enemies

• President McKinley attempt to “civilize” and “Christianize” the Filipinos.

Japan-the Superiors in Asia.• J

apanese were more related to the “Aryans” by blood.

• Superior to the “Mongolians”-mostly populated in China and Korea.

• Victory in the Russo-Japanese War An “Obligation” to help civilize their neighbor countries.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS1. Although Europeans appealed to their biological

superiority to justify their dominance in their colonies, they weren’t “pure-blooded”. Why do you think Asians or Africans didn’t suggest their own pure bloods to fight back the colonialism?

2. Why do you think China, the nation with the strongest civilization with its technological ad-vancements such as printing skills, and paper systems, didn’t start the colonialism?

3. Analyze the picture documents relating to social darwinism. (How Europeans justified their impe-rial)