During 1865 to the 1900s, social Darwinism was used significantly to encourage human competition, to oppose intervention in the natural human order, and was the idea that humans compete for the struggle of existence. Charles Darwin, an English naturalist and geologist, contributed much of his research to the theory of natural selection, also known as survival of the fittest. While many social Darwinists saw competition among social Darwinists, different individuals and groups as an ordinary component of human evolution. It was also used politically to advocate laissez-faire capitalism, political conservatism, imperialism, racism, and to discourage reform and intervention. The main idea of social Darwinism is that the status and privileges enjoyed by the wealthy and powerful members of society are the result of their personal characteristics and traits evolving through natural selection.
Those who did not possess the these traits were found to be powerless and poor members of society, and it was widely believed that it would be best for the human race to let these individuals and groups struggle for survival, and later fall out of existence. The belief that the small percentage of the wealthy at the top were the more evolved class of people was significantly advocated by Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner, and Andrew Carnegie. Herbert Spencer argued that social programs designed to aid poor people worked against nature.
In support of Herbert Spencer's belief, William Graham Sumner, a liberal American social scientist, believed that the humans who were the most fit became the most successful. Whoever had the necessary skills to prosper would be the ones who would rise to the top. This included brains, talent, and hard work.
In agreement with both Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, Andrew Carnegie applied Darwin's survival of the fittest to society by arguing that a free market economy and non-interference by the government would allow for the fittest to survive. is to evolve. The richest men in the country at the time, also known as the robber barons, were perfect examples of this idea.
Men like Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt came to power through their wise investments in the economy and later controlled a large part of it. Through hard work and perseverance, Andrew Carnegie embodies a true rags-to-riches story and is the true definition of social Darwinism. He came to the United States as a poor immigrant who used his connections and investments to work his way up the social ladder and into the robber barons as a successful owner of the Carnegie Steel Company. J.P. Morgan, an American financer and banker, was another man who greatly believed in the idea of social Darwinism.
John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in American history, as well as a founder of the Standard Oil Company, believed that the growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest. Cornelius Vanderbilt created a ferry service at a young age. age. which would make him into one of the richest men in America. Furthermore, social Darwinists believed that the weaker members of a species in nature would die, and that over time only the stronger genes would survive and be passed on.
Social Darwinists believed the same evolution should happen with humans. This led them to oppose government handouts, safety regulations, and laws restricting child labor. Such actions would help the weak to survive, which would be unfit to natural selection.
In short, Herbert Spencer, William Graham, and other social Darwinists Graham Sumner, and Andrew Carnegie, along with most if not all Darwinists, believed that they were rich and empowered because they were superior human beings in the evolution process.