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• Social Darwinism
  Social Darwinism

  noun

  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.
• 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.”

Social Darwinism

American  

[soh-shuhl dahr-wuh-niz-uhm] / ˈsoʊ ʃəl ˈdɑr wəˌnɪz əm /

Or social Darwinism

noun

Sociology.

1. 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.

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social Darwinism Cultural  

1. 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.”

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Other Word Forms

• Social Darwinist
  noun
• social Darwinist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Social Darwinism

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Social Darwinism social Darwinism

Social Darwinism was a bad idea in the 1900s.

From Salon ● May 27, 2025

As California Supreme Court Justice Loren Miller explained in a 1966 book, the ruling “smuggled Social Darwinism into the Constitution.”

From Scientific American ● Aug. 19, 2020

Since when has Liberty University embraced the teaching of Social Darwinism in Ethics 101?

From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2020

Fascists drew upon Social Darwinism and its French alternative, Lamarckianism; collective psychology; social biology; the science of crowds; and studies of myths.

From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2017

It's like some horribly twisted form of Social Darwinism.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

Still, to argue that Lochner provided the judicial underpinnings for an era of social Darwinism, as many of its critics have contended, was grossly unfair, according to Mr. Bernstein, the George Mason professor.

From New York Times ● Jul. 2, 2022

Anything less, so the argument goes, is social Darwinism.

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2022

Steeped in social Darwinism, Mellon viewed the acquisition of wealth as a mark of merit and poverty as a failure of character.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2021

Some even accuse him, history’s most outspoken opponent of social Darwinism, of being — you guessed it — a social Darwinist.

From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2021

In Darryl’s case, he had written a paper on the novel Deliverance and social Darwinism, the kind of thing a high school boy would grasp on to.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove