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Mike Hawkins - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Social Darwinism in European and American Thought, 1860-1945: Nature as Model and Nature as Threat
1997Co-Authors: Mike HawkinsAbstract:Acknowledgements Part I. Defining Social Darwinism: Introduction: the identity of Social Darwinism 1. Defining Social Darwinism 2. The distinctiveness of Social Darwinism Part II. Pioneers: 3. The emergence of Social Darwinism 4. Herbert Spencer and cosmic evolution 5. Social Darwinism in the USA 6. Social Darwinism in France and Germany Part III. Case Studies: 7. Reform Darwinism 8. Races, nations and the struggle for existence 9. The eugenic conscience 10. Social Darwinism, nature and sexual difference 11. Nazism, Fascism and Social Darwinism Postscript: Social Darwinism old and new: the case of sociobiology Bibliography.
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Introduction: the identity of Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism in European and American Thought 1860–1945, 1997Co-Authors: Mike HawkinsAbstract:What is Social Darwinism, and what role has it played in the history of Social and political ideas? These questions, the point of departure for the present study, are simple to formulate but, as the historiography of Social Darwinism attests, difficult to answer. Anyone consulting the vast literature on Social Darwinism in the hope of resolving them is likely to experience confusion rather than enlightenment. What he or she will encounter are heated controversies over a number of issues. First, scholars dispute the definition of Social Darwinism and, as a consequence, who is to count as a ‘genuine’ Social Darwinist. Second, they disagree over the ideological functions of Social Darwinism with some insisting on its conservative bias whereas others emphasise its reformist – even radical – orientation. Third, there is controversy over the significance of Social Darwinism, with positions ranging from the claim that it was both widespread and influential, to the contrary view that its importance has been grossly exaggerated by hostile commentators. Finally, scholars contest the relationship between Social Darwinism and Darwin himself, broadly dividing between those who see a connection and those who insist on a radical difference between the work of the English naturalist and the ideological uses to which his ideas were put. This dissension has helped to define the aims and the contents of this book. Indeed, it is my view that any attempt to understand the emergence and history of Social Darwinism must first come to grips with these disputes: appreciating the points at issue and the controversies they have aroused is a first step towards a different approach to the subject.
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The emergence of Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism in European and American Thought 1860–1945, 1997Co-Authors: Mike HawkinsAbstract:Introduction Before Darwin published his Descent in 1871, Europeans and Americans had already started to explore the Social and psychological implications of Darwinism. As a German enthusiast wrote: ‘from the first appearance of the Darwinian doctrine, every moderately logical thinker must have regarded man as similarly modifiable, and as the result of the mutability of species’. Though exaggerating the acceptance of Darwinism this statement accurately conveys the realisation by many intellectuals that this was a theory rich in implications for the study of human society. Within a quarter of a century of the appearance of the Origin there had emerged a literature devoted to exploring these implications in a wide range of contexts: Social and psychological development, class, race and gender, religion and morality, war and peace, crime and destitution. Well before the label itself, Social Darwinism was established as a rich and versatile theoretical resource. These pioneering examples of Social Darwinism are the focus of this and the next three chapters. The intention is not to provide a comprehensive account of the emergence of Social Darwinism, but rather to investigate the manner in which the world view was deployed in a variety of discursive contexts. This chapter deals with several very early examples which appeared in the 1860s and 1870s in Europe and the USA. Brace and the evolution of racial harmony A popular and persistent interpretation of Social Darwinism associates it with doctrines of racial hierarchy and conflict. It certainly was adapted for these purposes at an early stage. In Germany, for instance, a geologist, Friedrich Rolle, in a text published in 1866, emphasised the role of struggle and selection in human history and drew attention to the ‘struggle for space’ between races.
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Social Darwinism in European and American thought, 1860–1945: Defining Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism in European and American Thought 1860–1945, 1997Co-Authors: Mike HawkinsAbstract:The structure of Social theory Before proposing a conceptualisation of Social Darwinism, I need to make a detour by way of some brief observations on the structure of Social and political theory. As will become evident during the course of this chapter, this digression is central to my argument about the nature of Social Darwinism. Social and political theory in the West, from the Greeks until the present time, consists of two structural components, which I am going to label a world view and an ideology . The first component consists of a set of assumptions about the order of nature and of the place of humanity within it, and how this order relates to and is affected by the passage of time. It also usually contains a view of Social reality and where this fits into the overall configuration of nature, human nature and time. The second component comprises a theory of human interactions and how these are mediated by institutions. It will therefore contain a descriptive element that purports to explain some features of Social and psychological existence; a critique of certain aspects of this existence, and probably of other theories as well; and a prescription for how the sociopolitical system ought to be organised. The ideological aspect of a theory thus contains both descriptive and evaluative features which often makes difficult the separation of the empirical and normative claims that are being made. Theories may vary according to the prevalence of one or other of these sorts of claims, but both are integral to their articulation.
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Social Darwinism in european and american thought 1860 1945 defining Social Darwinism
1997Co-Authors: Mike HawkinsAbstract:The structure of Social theory Before proposing a conceptualisation of Social Darwinism, I need to make a detour by way of some brief observations on the structure of Social and political theory. As will become evident during the course of this chapter, this digression is central to my argument about the nature of Social Darwinism. Social and political theory in the West, from the Greeks until the present time, consists of two structural components, which I am going to label a world view and an ideology . The first component consists of a set of assumptions about the order of nature and of the place of humanity within it, and how this order relates to and is affected by the passage of time. It also usually contains a view of Social reality and where this fits into the overall configuration of nature, human nature and time. The second component comprises a theory of human interactions and how these are mediated by institutions. It will therefore contain a descriptive element that purports to explain some features of Social and psychological existence; a critique of certain aspects of this existence, and probably of other theories as well; and a prescription for how the sociopolitical system ought to be organised. The ideological aspect of a theory thus contains both descriptive and evaluative features which often makes difficult the separation of the empirical and normative claims that are being made. Theories may vary according to the prevalence of one or other of these sorts of claims, but both are integral to their articulation.
Connor Joseph Cavanagh - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Dying races, deforestation and drought: the political ecology of Social Darwinism in Kenya Colony’s western highlands
Journal of Historical Geography, 2019Co-Authors: Connor Joseph CavanaghAbstract:Abstract In 1929 the administration of Kenya Colony under the governorship of Edward Grigg ordered the formation of a special committee to report on what had become known as ‘the Dorobo question’ across eastern Africa. As conceived by the committee, the Dorobo question was effectively that of how to govern ‘most hunting people’ under British rule in the region – particularly those thought to be ‘pre-tribal and pre-pastoral’ – and who were often inconveniently found to be living within newly demarcated forest reserves. An examination of the committee’s recommendations grants us insight into the ways in which colonial perceptions of incipient ‘environmental’ problems were often insidiously bound up in the Social Darwinism of the period. Here, European perceptions of the Dorobo as a supposedly ‘dying race’ of forest-dwellers brings the entanglement of the period’s nascent ‘racial’ and natural sciences squarely into focus. Engaging these phenomena in relation to the case of the Sengwer community in western Kenya’s Cherangani Hills, I suggest that renewed inquiries into such conjoined discourses of race and nature may assist us in further enriching our understanding of the multiple, perpetually contested dimensions of identity formation within (post)colonial East Africa. Not least, the nuances of these dynamics may help us to more fully understand how the afterlives of these diverse racialisations and tribalisations continue to impinge upon the grievances of affected communities in the present, enabling an explicitly postcolonial – rather than, necessarily, a primordialist, instrumentalist or constructivist – perspective on recent articulations of ‘indigenous’ or ‘ethnic minority’ rights in eastern Africa.
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dying races deforestation and drought the political ecology of Social Darwinism in kenya colony s western highlands
Journal of Historical Geography, 2019Co-Authors: Connor Joseph CavanaghAbstract:Abstract In 1929 the administration of Kenya Colony under the governorship of Edward Grigg ordered the formation of a special committee to report on what had become known as ‘the Dorobo question’ across eastern Africa. As conceived by the committee, the Dorobo question was effectively that of how to govern ‘most hunting people’ under British rule in the region – particularly those thought to be ‘pre-tribal and pre-pastoral’ – and who were often inconveniently found to be living within newly demarcated forest reserves. An examination of the committee’s recommendations grants us insight into the ways in which colonial perceptions of incipient ‘environmental’ problems were often insidiously bound up in the Social Darwinism of the period. Here, European perceptions of the Dorobo as a supposedly ‘dying race’ of forest-dwellers brings the entanglement of the period’s nascent ‘racial’ and natural sciences squarely into focus. Engaging these phenomena in relation to the case of the Sengwer community in western Kenya’s Cherangani Hills, I suggest that renewed inquiries into such conjoined discourses of race and nature may assist us in further enriching our understanding of the multiple, perpetually contested dimensions of identity formation within (post)colonial East Africa. Not least, the nuances of these dynamics may help us to more fully understand how the afterlives of these diverse racialisations and tribalisations continue to impinge upon the grievances of affected communities in the present, enabling an explicitly postcolonial – rather than, necessarily, a primordialist, instrumentalist or constructivist – perspective on recent articulations of ‘indigenous’ or ‘ethnic minority’ rights in eastern Africa.
Edmund Chattoe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Review of Social Darwinism: Linking Evolutionary Thought to Social Theory
2001Co-Authors: Edmund ChattoeAbstract:Review of: Dickens, Peter (2000) Social Darwinism: Linking Evolutionary Thought to Social Theory. Open University Press: Buckingham.
Paul S. Chung - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Ethnic Nationalism, Social Darwinism, and Alternative Modernities
Critical Theory and Political Theology, 2019Co-Authors: Paul S. ChungAbstract:The prior investigations of postcolonial political theology and mimicry lead us to this chapter which includes a case study of previously colonialized nation, South Korea by Japan. It focuses on colonial modernity, alternative modernities, and the postcolonial epistemology, especially in dealing with the political and cultural problems of South Korea. The reason for this study is relevant to my previous critical undertaking of Social Darwinism, which remains an undercurrent in its racially oriented nationalism in South Korea. A debate of the modernization thesis or colonial modernity is undertaken in treating the period of Japanese colonialism. This debate leads to a subsequent inquiry of ethnic nationalism and Social Darwinism, which was shaped during the Japanese colonial period. To advance the thesis of civil nationalism, I take issue with the idea of Eurocentrism and develop a postcolonial project of political theology and trans-modernity. I conceptualize the significance of multiple or alternative modernities within the context of the critical theory and seek to overcome the limitations of the modernization theory and ethno-nationalism toward the postcolonial political theology.
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Race, Social Contract Theory, and Social Darwinism
Critical Theory and Political Theology, 2019Co-Authors: Paul S. ChungAbstract:This chapter builds upon critical theory from Chap. 1 to investigate racial theory in the historical context, which is connected with colonialism and economic plundering by Spanish powers in Latin America. Social contract thinkers such as John Locke and Rousseau will be explicated in dealing with their theory of freedom, democracy, and slavery. Then I focus on Social Darwinism as a cardinal principle underlying colonialism and racial development. I include a theological, ethical reflection of Social contract morality, racism, and justice to develop postcolonial political theology.
Christine Clavien - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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evolution society and ethics Social Darwinism versus evolutionary ethics
2015Co-Authors: Christine ClavienAbstract:Evolutionary ethics (EE) is a branch of philosophy that arouses both fascination and deep suspicion. It claims that Darwinian mechanisms and evolutionary data on animal Sociality are relevant to ethical reflection. This field of study is often misunderstood and rarely fails to conjure up images of Social Darwinism as a vector for nasty ideologies and policies. However, it is worth resisting the temptation to reduce EE to Social Darwinism and developing an objective analysis of whether it is appropriate to adopt an evolutionary approach in ethics. The purpose of this article is to ‘de-demonise’ EE while exploring its limits.
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Handbook of Evolutionary Thinking in the Sciences - Evolution, Society, and Ethics: Social Darwinism Versus Evolutionary Ethics
Handbook of Evolutionary Thinking in the Sciences, 2014Co-Authors: Christine ClavienAbstract:Evolutionary ethics (EE) is a branch of philosophy that arouses both fascination and deep suspicion. It claims that Darwinian mechanisms and evolutionary data on animal Sociality are relevant to ethical reflection. This field of study is often misunderstood and rarely fails to conjure up images of Social Darwinism as a vector for nasty ideologies and policies. However, it is worth resisting the temptation to reduce EE to Social Darwinism and developing an objective analysis of whether it is appropriate to adopt an evolutionary approach in ethics. The purpose of this article is to ‘de-demonise’ EE while exploring its limits.
