How did Social Darwinism affect European imperialism in the late nineteenth century?
Answers
Answer:
Social Darwinism was a sociological theory popular in late nineteenth-century Europe and the United States. It merged Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and Herbert Spencer's sociological theories to justify imperialism, racism, and laissez-faire (i.e. conservative) social and economic policies.
Answer:
Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and Herbert Spencer's sociological theories were merged together in order to justify imperialism, racism, and laissez-faire social and economic policies. It gained popularity in the later part of the 19th century. Social Darwinists and Imperialists argued that the society with the strongest and the most able people was the fittest and therefore had the duty of expansion of the society with people who are strong at the expense of the people who are weak. They argued that by doing so they are merely forwarding Human evolution and this was done just to protect the natural order of things. So basically Social Darwinism was used in order to provide imperialism an air of scientific legitimacy.