Social Darwinism in European and American Thought 1860-1945 (ISBN 052157434X) is a book by Mike Hawkins published in 1997. It deals with the rise of Darwin's ideas and their applications to the individual and society following the publication of The Origin of Species. The subject of the book deals with the exploration of Darwin's principles across the political spectrum, from fascism and its well documented usage of Darwinism to the usage by anarchists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It attempts to give a firm definition to what Darwinism was and is. Social Darwinism also deals with the modern consequence of Darwin in the form of Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology.
Famous quotes containing the words social, darwinism, european, american and/or thought:
“... to most mortals there is a stupidity which is unendurable and a stupidity which is altogether acceptable—else, indeed, what would become of social bonds?”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“... what’s been building since the 1980’s is a new kind of social Darwinism that blames poverty and crime and the crisis of our youth on a breakdown of the family. That’s what will last after this flurry on family values.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)
“In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American—on the other hand, is expressed in an eager amateurish way. A European gives a sense of scope, of survey, of consideration. An American is strained, sensational. One is artistic gold; the other is bullion.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The art of advertisement, after the American manner, has introduced into all our life such a lavish use of superlatives, that no standard of value whatever is intact.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“If thought is life
And strength & breath,
And the want
Of thought is death;
Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)