基本説明
Clarifies the meaning of Social Darwinism and demonstrates its relevance through a study of European and American social and political thinkers.
Full Description
This wide-ranging study focuses upon the controversies surrounding the meaning and significance of Social Darwinism. It clarifies the nature of Social Darwinism and its relationship to the ideas of Darwin, Lamarck and Herbert Spencer. After examining the development of Social Darwinist theories by a number of European and American thinkers, Mike Hawkins explores the use of these theories in a number of ideological debates and movements of the period 1860-1945. These include socio-political reform, national and racial conflict, eugenics, the position of women and Nazism/Fascism. The aim is to illuminate, through detailed comparative analyses, both the flexibility and the limits of Social Darwinism - limits which derive from the view of nature which lies at the very heart of Social Darwinism. The study concludes with a discussion of modern sociobiology in order to assess the continuing vitality of Social Darwinism.
Contents
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.
