In England in 1859, Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution titled “On the origin of species”, This theory was then taken one step further by a sociologist named Herbert Spencer. Spencer’s theory, titled Social Darwinism, stated that some races were superior to others based on the technology they had developed as well as the countries they had conquered. Social Darwinism further stated that the weaker races would die off as they were less sophisticated and couldn’t adapt to their surroundings. This lead to a hierarchy of races with the Europeans being at the top and the native peoples at the bottom. Social Darwinism became the justification for imperial conquest across the globe as it made the ill-treatment of other races acceptable
However the theory that had the most impact came from Charles Darwin 's theory on “natural selection” and the survival of the fittest”. He taught that if evolution had changed other species why hadn’t it done the same to the human race. This helped justified the expansion of the Great British race across the world. The other races being exterminated on the
During the succession of periodization Five (1750 C.E.-1900 C.E.) leading into periodization Six (1900-present day), there were many causes and consequences of new imperialism in Africa. New imperialism was caused due to the Europeans’ desire to acquire new land and resources, along with the introduction of social darwinism. The consequences of new imperialism were the denial of natural rights to Africans, as well as the religion of Christianity rising to become a more eminent feature of African society. To begin with, Europeans believed that in order to build on their acquisitions and improve the availability of new resources they would need to conquer Africa.
(Gellar 1986, 126) Another theory that was used to legitimize European rule would be social darwinism which was derived from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Social darwinism was based on Darwin’s biological theories of 'natural selection' and the 'survival of the fittest.' It was used to legitimize a social structure and a capitalist system where the whites were the ones who are fit to dominate and are superior to other racial groups. (Townson 2001) These theories led to the rise of a master-servant relationship between the Europeans and Africans. Moreover, the Africans were referred to as “native” which implies that they were not the superior race, but instead the uncivilised one, and that they were incapable of ruling
This statement illustrates England 's point of view towards imperialism and also provides their reasons for imperializing to Africa. They believed that their own culture and way of life was the best and it would be better if more people of English culture were spread across the world. Following their need to be the best nation, came their need to imperialize and gain more power, which was the cause why the Africans were hurt, not only physical, but also their culture killed and had an everlasting burden placed on them all. In the text, "The Black Man 's Burden," by Edward Morel in 1903, it states, "In its permanence resides its fatal consequences. It kills not only the body merely, but the soul.
Groups like the Founding Fathers and Transcendentalists believed mankind to be inherently good, while the Puritans believed all humans were born to be inherently evil. Each group had a different, unique perspective on the laws of nature and how life should be lived. While the Founding Fathers and Transcendentalists
The most devastating example of this was the way that Cholera was brought back to Britain from the Indian sub-continent with devastating results. The imperialists also had a habit of moving slaves and laborers around the world to tend the new plantations and factories. This would increase the danger of introducing disease to populations that had no natural resistance against
This sense of racial dominance offers insight into the Western justification of their brutal treatment of natives –ruling through violence and intimidation rather than diplomacy. Moreover, as native Africans are degraded in the background, the wicked imperialistic operations of European companies lowered the moral standards for arbitrating the evil and madness of their
We can talk of prominent sociologists Max Weber and Franz Boas, who attributed on the refutation of the biological concept of race, dedicated to remove the ambiguous racial aspect from fundamental social, political, or economic determination. Years ago, white viewed “any racial intermixture makes one ‘non-white’” because they put white in a category of “pure,” which meant “white as “havin’ a little Negra blood in ya’-just one little teeny drop and a person’s all Negra.” Here came with a principle of social concept: hypo-descent. Thus, “black” turned out to be a word with different meanings in society, and faced the racial difficulties with stereotypes. "Micro-level" of racism mention in the writing, in which was drawn with social concepts by Omi and Winant. The concept is more likely separates two people by a noticeable factor- race.
Morality is a very subjective topic, one person’s morals may differ greatly from another. Philosophers such as Darwin and Marx took it upon themselves to make a hypothesis as to what primarily influences a person’s morality. Darwin states that the greatest influence on human morality is survival; whereas, Marx believes that the ruling class is what manipulates our morality; however, Darwin's philosophy is more accurate due the increased amount of evidence he has compared to Marx. Darwin was a firm believer in evolution and natural selection, and he wrote many works which provided evidence of his hypothesis. His main point was that as a species, including humans, continues to evolve, natural selection chooses the best traits to be inherited