The Pros And Cons Of Social Darwinism

Social Darwinists first began influencing Western thought in the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century. They argued that “white European men were wealthier and better because they were more highly evolved than white women, people of color, and any other race”. (the making of the west, Hunt, pg. 724) During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Social Darwinism influenced the lives of European women, colonial subjects, and racial minorities by implementing law and policies to further show their superiority, they “promoted racism and sexist behavior”. (hunt, pg.724)
Women during this time were affected by the ideas of social Darwinist, they were believed to have “smaller brains”, they were belittled, they had no voice in politics. Some laws that were implemented were

One of the biggest examples of this would be genocide against Jews. One of the main ideas of social Darwinism was that white Europeans were a superior race, when Hitler came into power, the idea that Aryan’s were the superior race and that German Jews, and Jews in Europe, were the cause of Germany’s misery. Laws like the Nuremberg laws of 1935 which prohibited Jews from attending universities, using public spaces, no longer having political and journalism titles. Many Jews were forced to adjust to these laws, many left their respectable jobs, they had to move, and they were branded. Many also were no longer citizens of the country they were born in. Yet Jews aren’t the only example the Armenian genocide is also a cause of social Darwinism ideas.
Overall social Darwinism made racism, sexism and colonialism be justified, by the simple fact that white European men were the superior sex and race. Darwinism lead to the idea of genocide being justified by the simple thought that a superior race existed, it made sexism normal due to the fact that women did not have right, and were seen as the lesser