Social Darwinism

or social Darwinism

noun Sociology.

a 19th-century theory, inspired by Darwinism, by which the social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions and in accord with which a position of laissez-faire is advocated.

Origin of Social Darwinism

First recorded in 1885–90

OTHER WORDS FROM Social Darwinism

Social Darwinist, social Darwinist, noun

Words related to social darwinism

adaptation, evolution, Darwinism, phylogeny

Cultural definitions for social darwinism

social Darwinism

A theory arising in the late nineteenth century that the laws of evolution, which Charles Darwin had observed in nature, also apply to society. Social Darwinists argued that social progress resulted from conflicts in which the fittest or best adapted individuals, or entire societies, would prevail. It gave rise to the slogan “survival of the fittest.”