WORLD HISTORY

COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM

THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM 1870 1914

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Survival of the fittest and natural selection applied to humans
A
social darwinism
B
sphere of influence
C
direct rule
D
imperialism
Explanation: 

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 social Darwinists-notably Spencer and Walter Bagehot in England and William Graham Sumner in the United States-believed that the process of natural selection acting on variations in the population would result in the survival of the best competitors and in continuing improvement in the population.

Detailed explanation-3: -In scientific terms, these hazards are referred to as selection pressures. They put pressure on us to adapt in order to survive the environment we are in and reproduce. It is selection pressure that drives natural selection (’survival of the fittest’) and it is how we evolved into the species we are today.

Detailed explanation-4: -The mechanism that Darwin proposed for evolution is natural selection. Because resources are limited in nature, organisms with heritable traits that favor survival and reproduction will tend to leave more offspring than their peers, causing the traits to increase in frequency over generations.

There is 1 question to complete.