Social Darwinism and Race Superiority In The West Essay

Social Darwinism was a set of theories developed by various people during the 19th century. It was the adaptation of Darwin theory of evolution applied to human social behavior and ability to survive compared to other human beings. It can now easily be seen that these theories could be used to justify racial discrimination and they have been used in this way throughout history. This misconception of Darwin’s theories popularized by various academics in the west gave western nations to treat other nations badly. People like French man Joseph Gobineau had already come up with race supremacy ideas before Darwin’s theories of evolution had started to become a popular idea. He took his ideas from what he was seeing around him at the time not†¦show more content†¦It is looking at people’s ability to adapt in the man made society, saying that people with less intelligence and ability to contribute to this society will struggle to survive in the society. Humans being are all from the same species so what social Darwinists say is that lesser Human beings will/should eventually die out, or be killed. Most Social Darwinists believed that these lesser Human Beings were of another, less economically and technologically powerful race. (Hawkins p. 134-137, 1997) Joseph Arthur de Gobineau was a French academic is well known for his work Essay on the Inequality of Human Races written in the mid 19th century and translated into English in 1856. At the time the views expressed in the paper were not called Social Darwinism they were extremely Social Darwinist. Gobineau opposed the French revolution because he believed that it meant that the Aryan race in which he descended was being corrupted by other races. He said that there are three races Blacks, Yellows and Whites. The Blacks where stupid but physically superior, the Yellows looked scientific views of people and the Earth which put the human race in place where they were not superior. 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