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Social Darwinism - Coggle Diagram
Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer
He was a philosopher and sociologist who applied Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection to human society, social classes, as well as individuals. He called his study "synthetic philosophy."
Spencer argued that human society evolved through competition and natural selection. He believed that society advanced and improved because only the strongest and most adaptable survived. Those that could not adapt would just die out.
People who supported Spencer's idea were known a Social Darwinists, and their catchphrase was "survival of the fittest."
His reputation at the time competed with that of Charles Darwin but declined in the twentieth century. Spencer was a major figure in the Victorian era. In the mid-nineteenth century, Spencer contributed important components to the evolutionary theory.
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Eugenics
Francis Gatlin came up with the idea, but his country didn't pick up the idea so the concept quickly moved to the United States.
Social Darwinism was used to justify stuff like Eugenics, which was a new "science" that aimed at the human race needing to get rid of the undesirables .
In the early 1900's, 32 U.S. states passed laws that resulted in the forced sterilization of more than 64,000 Americans including immigrants, people of color, unmarried mothers and the mentally ill.
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Nazi Germany
Hitler adopted the social Darwinist take on survival of the fittest. He believed the German master race had grown weak due to the influence of non-Aryans in Germany. .
Hitler began reading about eugenics and social Darwinism while he was imprisoned following a failed 1924 coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch.