USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Social Darwinists believe in “survival of the fittest”-the idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better. Social Darwinism has been used to justify imperialism, racism, eugenics and social inequality at various times over the past century and a half.

Detailed explanation-2: -The “Fittest” and the “Unfit" Herbert Spencer based his concept of social evolution, popularly known as “Social Darwinism, ” on individual competition. Spencer believed that competition was “the law of life” and resulted in the “survival of the fittest."

Detailed explanation-3: -Natural selection is the theory that only the strong survive. For example, the animals that can outrun their predators live to pass on their speedy genes; the slow are eaten. Natural selection is part of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. England’s peppered moth is a great example of natural selection.

Detailed explanation-4: -Darwin proposed that species can change over time, that new species come from pre-existing species, and that all species share a common ancestor. In this model, each species has its own unique set of heritable (genetic) differences from the common ancestor, which have accumulated gradually over very long time periods.

Detailed explanation-5: -Herbert Spencer: Herbert Spencer built on Darwin’s framework of evolution, extrapolating it to the spheres of ethics and society. This is why Spencer’s theories are often called “social Darwinism.”