Bryan D’Ostroph
SOAN 207
Midterm Assessment
Darwin, Social Darwinism, and Darwinian Archeology
“Why, if man can patiently select variations most useful to himself, should nature fail in selecting variations useful, under changing conditions of life, to her living products?” This key question that Darwin poses in his chapter “Recapitulation and Conclusion” helps to exemplify the ideas that he conveys regarding natural selection and “descent with modification.” Darwin distinguishes between artificial and natural selection early on in his chapter. He states that, while humans do not produce variation directly, they do manipulate the variations already in nature for their own benefit. Purposeful manipulations of variation qualifies as artificial …show more content…
One key movement was Social Darwinism, developed by Herbert Spencer, which advocated the theory of “survival of the fittest” within society. While it claimed to have its roots in Darwinian theory, this movement had clear delineations from Darwin regarding natural selection, as Spencer believed it to be a mechanism for perfection of a species rather than adaptation. Social Darwinism justified colonial oppression of non-Western populations because it was “nature playing itself out,” and implied that those who interfered with nature’s processes were violating natural laws (Marks 2011: 50). Social Darwinism also cited Darwin’s idea regarding competition between species to explain class relations in Europe, stating that the poor deserved to be where they were due to their lack of fitness. According to Marks, Spencer’s ideas and their adherents began to lose traction during the turn of the twentieth century, as individuals began to realize that this ethos that was derived from citing Darwinian theory was largely false. Furthermore, these individuals realized that Social Darwinism was truly just a platform for the upper echelons of society to justify their subversion of the rest of society (Marks 2011: 51). While the movement’s fallout increased as the twentieth century progressed, we still …show more content…
This could also apply to aspects of culture being passed from one group to another. One such example that was discussed in class was the transition among Native Americans to using guns rather than bows and arrows after their encounters with Europeans. This shows Darwinian thinking, as this technology (i.e. guns) allowed for greater survival and reproductive ability, enabling the descendant population to have an advantageous cultural adaptation. This theory relies more on phylogeny of cultural lineages, where there are direct linkages and forces between evolution of cultures. This type of cultural phylogeny is exemplified by Shennan with reference to the Indo-European language tree, showing that there was a root instance to all of the cultural
SOAN 207
Midterm Assessment
Darwin, Social Darwinism, and Darwinian Archeology
“Why, if man can patiently select variations most useful to himself, should nature fail in selecting variations useful, under changing conditions of life, to her living products?” This key question that Darwin poses in his chapter “Recapitulation and Conclusion” helps to exemplify the ideas that he conveys regarding natural selection and “descent with modification.” Darwin distinguishes between artificial and natural selection early on in his chapter. He states that, while humans do not produce variation directly, they do manipulate the variations already in nature for their own benefit. Purposeful manipulations of variation qualifies as artificial …show more content…
One key movement was Social Darwinism, developed by Herbert Spencer, which advocated the theory of “survival of the fittest” within society. While it claimed to have its roots in Darwinian theory, this movement had clear delineations from Darwin regarding natural selection, as Spencer believed it to be a mechanism for perfection of a species rather than adaptation. Social Darwinism justified colonial oppression of non-Western populations because it was “nature playing itself out,” and implied that those who interfered with nature’s processes were violating natural laws (Marks 2011: 50). Social Darwinism also cited Darwin’s idea regarding competition between species to explain class relations in Europe, stating that the poor deserved to be where they were due to their lack of fitness. According to Marks, Spencer’s ideas and their adherents began to lose traction during the turn of the twentieth century, as individuals began to realize that this ethos that was derived from citing Darwinian theory was largely false. Furthermore, these individuals realized that Social Darwinism was truly just a platform for the upper echelons of society to justify their subversion of the rest of society (Marks 2011: 51). While the movement’s fallout increased as the twentieth century progressed, we still …show more content…
This could also apply to aspects of culture being passed from one group to another. One such example that was discussed in class was the transition among Native Americans to using guns rather than bows and arrows after their encounters with Europeans. This shows Darwinian thinking, as this technology (i.e. guns) allowed for greater survival and reproductive ability, enabling the descendant population to have an advantageous cultural adaptation. This theory relies more on phylogeny of cultural lineages, where there are direct linkages and forces between evolution of cultures. This type of cultural phylogeny is exemplified by Shennan with reference to the Indo-European language tree, showing that there was a root instance to all of the cultural