The impacts of Social Darwinism are big and mostly bad when it comes to the rest of the world we live in. I think Social Darwinism has impacted the way the U.S. is today and I don’t believe that is a wonderful thing because I think the United States and the people who live in them sometimes still get caught up in believing they are better and smarter than the rest of our world. I think that is a reflection of how Social Darwinism affected us in the
“...only the “best” people will reproduce and become superior
Do you think our society would strive if we eliminated those with bad traits? What if we only accelerated the people who can make a living for themselves and not have to depend on others? This would make our country grow right? Well during this movement, that took place in the early 1900’s, these questions were analyzed and experimented. People like Francis Galton and Charles Darwin believed that taking the hereditary genes from strong, well minded, citizens would benefit the human race as a whole.
In Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, we follow the main character Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is a businessman in London. His business partner Marley died years ago leaving Scrooge to run the business himself. He did have one person work for him as his clerk. The only thing Scrooge cares about is his financial situation.
Chapter 4: Modern day eugenics: social desensitisation to the value of human life “What is the result of this exclusive and unintelligent protection of the weak, the infirm, the incurable, the wicked, to all those who are ill-favoured by nature? It is that the ills which have afflicted them tend to be perpetuated and multiplied indefinitely; that evil is increased instead of diminishing, and tends to grow at the expense of the good.”- Clemence Royer, 1862 preface to the French translation of the Origin of Species The quiet refuge that eugenics went into after the war is now over and it has become more prominent in recent years, as society has forgotten its war, and even post war atrocities.
What comes to mind when one hears the word, breeding, most would think it is associated to the idea of animals in captivity or the common household pet, like that of a dog at a breeders, where one might receive the family dog from. This same idea is being contemplated with the human race, where people should receive breeding licenses before they can procreate and have family of their own. Most people can have children naturally but some may not be able to and those that cannot naturally have a more difficult time adopting a child. Two articles “Ban Baby-Making Unless Parents Are Licensed” by Hank Pellissier and “Sir, Could I See Your Breeding License?” by Kyle Munkittrick examines the depth of which you would be able to receive a breeding
When one hears the word Eugenics, one associates it with the terrible actions of Nazi Germany, but Germany was not the only country, which adopted the horrible social movement known as Eugenics. It took place in countries such as Great Britain, Sweden, Australia, USA and many more, all of whom introduced policies and programs such as birth control, marriage restrictions, segregation, forced abortions and sterilization, and worst of all genocide with aims to improve the human race by potentially breeding out undesired traits and ridding society of all those deemed as “unfit”. The idea of breeding out undesirable genes or traits is loaded with problematic value judgments, and the various ways that such ideas have been implemented as policy have scared many people and lead to the deaths of millions of people, therefore it undoubtedly has a bad reputation.
Overall, Darwin’s observations did not only come with religion and scientific confusion but also opened a way for humanism in western countries. In summary, concepts like overpopulation, competition, genetic variation, natural selection all contributed to evolution one way or another. Genetic variation is essential for evolution because it enables natural selection while maintaining adaptations of organisms to their environment. On the other hand, competition and overpopulation are also important aspects of evolution because overpopulation is also necessary to have variability in different populations while competition is important in structuring ecological communities and agent of natural selection. This essay also looks at is the effect of the Victorian age during the publication of Darwin's book also known as: “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” and some of Darwin's critics.
Eugenics is the improvement of the human population by controlled breeding. With that definition many things can be put under the category of Eugenics. Social Darwinism though, is the opposite of Eugenics. It is a theory that human population is based off of survival of the fittest and natural selection. Nazism is something that can be categorized under Eugenics because the beliefs of Germany during that time period was that the Aryan race was the best and therefore he selected those he believed to be of pure German descent and allowed them to breed and either killed those that he did not want to have children or placed them into concentration camps.
Social Darwinism played a very important part in Imperialism. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and his idea of “survival of the fittest” (755) was applied to the concept of natural selection of human beings and, in this case, nations. Social Darwinism stated that the strongest figure would survive and advance. Those that were too weak would be eliminated.
These types of policies usually create large gaps in the balance of power amongst anything from individuals, races, or entire nations. Social Darwinism is used to justify these gaps in that the groups that come out on top are simply the most fit and deserve to be on top. It is very easy to see Social Darwinism around today. The free market we enjoy in the US is based on very similar ideals of competition and self-interest. One place you can see Social Darwinism at work today is in the debated over the “top one percent.”
By watching GATTACA we learn that there are a lot of disadvantages as well as many advantages. Here are some disadvantages of having a society like this. In the the movie we learn that if you are not genetically modified and are brought to birth like in today 's society letting nature take its course you will have a life full of shadowing and being seen as the weakest link of the bunch. You 're opportunities are limited. Another disadvantage is having to deal with many people starting you down or discriminating you for the lack of abilities you don 't possess.
By saying this, I feel that when an individual is looking for a partner, they have an idea of what kind of person they are looking for based on already existing perceptions of humanity. For example, a woman may not want to pursue an Asian man solely based on the perception that he will most likely have a smaller sized penis. This in the long term has impacted the Asian race, due to the fact that a majority of women would prefer an average sized penis, or above, when it comes to the man they choose to be with. Personally, in my experiences I base the partner I want to be with based off personalities and how they can help me grow as a person in life, but many women do not think that way, which is causing the continuation of racialization in
Social Darwinism is a concept applying Darwin's natural selection and evolution theory to a human society. It is used to justify the injustices and inequalities among races and culture. Social Darwinism was popular in the late 19th century because of a philosopher named Herbert Spencer who came up with the phrase, “survival of the fittest”. Additionally Darwin published his book where he talks about natural selection in the later half of 1900’s. Social Darwinism was used to justify racism because some human races and ethnic groups have desirable and “strong” traits.
Research has shown that individuals are more likely to marry within their social class, and to go against it would be considered deviating. There is no set conclusion to ending discrimination. But by ending discrimination we will allow for societies to be more accepting towards interracial marriages. Reflection and Analysis