Social Darwinism and its Consequences for 19th Century Society

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, LMU Munich (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Hauptseminar, language: English, abstract: The phenomenon of Social Darwinism is by no means easy to explain or to define. Its name suggests that Social Darwinism has something to do with Darwinism, meaning the evolutionary theories of Darwin. In the course of this paper, it shall be outlined how Social Darwinism could be defined, what link there is or could be to Darwin and his theories and the role Herbert Spencer plays in coining the term Social Darwinism. Furthermore, it is aimed at discussing the impacts of Social Darwinism on the contemporary society of the 19th century, in particular the English Imperialism and also racism in general, as well in England as in America. Apart from that, the attention will be drawn to the influences of Social Darwinism on English and American literature of the time. Finally, a conclusion will be given to sum up the most important outcomes of this paper.