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:
“The beaux and the babies, the servant troubles, and the social aspirations of the other girls seemed to me superficial. My work did not. I was professional. I could earn my own money, or I could be fired if I were inefficient. It was something to get your teeth into. It was living.”
—Edna Woolman Chase (1877–1957)
“... 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)
“What is the first thing that savage tribes accept from Europeans nowadays? Brandy and Christianity, the European narcotics.—And what is it that most rapidly leads to their destruction?—The European narcotics.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say “Gentlemen” to the person with whom he is conversing.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“In truth, I was so good at being a man, with such plenitude and simplicity, that I thought I was something of a superman.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)