| Social darwinism
social darwinism is a descriptive
term given to a kind of social
theory that draws an association
between darwin's theory of
evolution by natural selection, and
the sociological relations of
humanity. critics of such theories
argue that by asserting that
societies develop and therefore
operate by "natural"
laws, the real aim of "social
darwinism" theories is to
rationalize and thereby legitimize
the unequal and disproportionate
divisions between and within
societies. critics may make note
that darwin's own work never
contained the logical and
naturalistic fallacies of assuming
that the existence of natural
processes meant that that they
could "naturally" be
extended from biological systems to
social systems.
"social darwinism" is
most associated with the writings
of herbert spencer, although
researchers such as david weinstein
have argued that spencer was not a
"coarse social
darwinist."
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/
spencer/)
in progress: its law and cause
(1857) spencer wrote:
"this law of organic progress
is the law of all progress. whether
it be in the development of the
earth, in the development of life
upon its surface, the development
of society, of government, ...,
this same evolution of the simple
into the complex, through a process
of continuous differentiation,
holds throughout."
spencer's work also served to
renew interest in the work of
thomas malthus, who is also cited
as a social darwinist author.
malthus's 1798 work an essay
on the principle of population, for
example, argued that as increasing
population would normally outgrow
its food supply, this would result
in the starvation of the weakest.
some historians have suggested that
the malthusian theory and similar
concepts were used by the british
to justify the continued export of
agricultural produce from ireland,
even as the irish were suffering
from famine, in particular the
great famine of 1845-1849.
the 1997 book guns, germs and steel
by jared diamond was seen by its
author as continuing the debate
over social darwinism. diamond
formulated a compelling argument
that observed differences of
technological and social
development among populations
resulted from environmental factors
enhanced by the passage of time.
because social darwinism came to be
associated in the public mind with
racism, imperialism, eugenics, and
pseudoscience, such criticisms are
sometimes applied (and misapplied)
to any other political or
scientific theory that resembles
social darwinism. such criticisms
are often leveled, for example, on
evolutionary psychology, even
though it makes no political or
moral claims. similarly,
capitalism, especially
laissez-faire capitalism, is
sometimes equated with social
darwinism because it adopts a
"sink or swim" attitude
toward economic activity.
supporters of capitalism respond
that their goal is specifically to
avoid ineffective economic
behavior, and does not require or
condone "letting the weak
starve".
american dream
the phrase the american dream came
into the american vocabulary
starting in 1867 when writer,
horatio alger came out with his
book "ragged dick." it
was a rags-to-riches tale of a poor
orphan boy in new york city who
saves his pennies, works hard and
eventually becomes rich. it became
the model that through honesty,
hard work and strong determination,
the american dream was available to
anyone willing to make the
journey.
the american dream is the concept
widely held in the united states of
america, that through hard work,
courage and determination one can
achieve prosperity. these were the
values of the original pioneers who
crossed the american plains when
europeans first came to america.
what the american dream has become
is a question under constant
discussion.
the origin of the american dream
stems from the departure in
government and economics from the
models of the old world. this
allowed unprecedented freedom,
especially the possibility of
dramatic upward social mobility.
additionally, from the
revolutionary war well into the
later half of the nineteenth
century, many of america's
physical resources were unclaimed
and often undiscovered, allowing
the possibility of coming across a
fortune through relatively little,
but lucky investment in land or
industry. the development of the
industrial revolution defined the
mineral and land wealth which was
there in abundance, contrary to the
environmental riches such as huge
herds of bison and diversity of
forests, for the original american
indians.
many early americans prospectors
headed west of the rocky mountains
to buy acres of cheap land in hopes
of finding deposits of gold. the
american dream was a driving factor
not only in the gold rush of the
mid to late 1800s, but also in the
waves of immigration throughout
that century and the following.
impoverished western europeans
escaping the irish potato famines
in ireland, the highland clearances
in scotland and the aftermath of
napoleon in the rest of europe came
to america to escape a poor quality
of life at home. they wanted to
embrace the promise of financial
security and constitutional freedom
they had heard existed so widely in
the united states.
nearing the twentieth century,
major industrialist personalities
became the new model of the
american dream, many beginning life
in the humblest of conditions but
later controlling enormous
corporations and fortunes. perhaps
most notable here were the great
american capitalists andrew
carnegie and nelson rockefeller.
this acquisition of great wealth
demonstrated that if you had
talent, intelligence, and a
willingness to work extremely hard
you were guaranteed at least
moderate success as a result. the
key difference here from the old
world societal structure is that
the antiquated monarchies of
western europe and their
post-feudal economies actively
oppressed the peasant class. they
also required high levels of
taxation which crippled
development. america, however, was
built by people who were
consciously free of these
constraints. there was a hope for
egalitarianism. martin luther king
invoked the american dream in what
is perhaps his most famous speech:
"let us not wallow in the
valley of despair, i say to you
today, my friends. and so even
though we face the difficulties of
today and tomorrow, i still have a
dream. it is a dream deeply rooted
in the american dream." (i
have a dream)
horatio alger, jr.
horatio alger, jr. (january 13,
1832 - july 18, 1899) was a
19th-century american author, a
leading proponent of social
darwinism during the gilded age
(1865-1900), who wrote over 130
dime novels, describing how
down-and-out boys were able to
achieve the american dream of
wealth and success through hard
work, courage, determination, and
concern for others.
poorly written and repetitive, the
novels declined in popularity as
alger's target audience grew
more sophisticated. nevertheless,
at the time of their writing they
were bestsellers, and alger's
books actually rivaled those of
mark twain in popularity. as the
american dream took shape, alger
gave hope for a brighter future to
millions of young men who were then
living on the brink of society.
alger was born in revere,
massachusetts to a stern unitarian
minister who wanted his son to
follow him into the clergy. he
attended harvard where he studied
under henry wadsworth longfellow
with the intention of one day
becoming a poet. after graduation
he found work as a journalist and
schoolteacher. rejected by the
union army because of his asthma,
he took a tour of europe where he
finally decided to pursue the
ministry. he took a position in
cape cod but left for new york city
rather suddenly in 1866, ostensibly
to pursue a career in writing.
church records uncovered after
alger's death indicate that he
was quietly dismissed for having
sexual relations with several boys
in his parish.
the move to new york was a turning
point in alger's career. he
was immediately drawn into the work
of impoverished young bootblacks,
newspaper boys, and peddlers, and
even took a young chinese immigrant
named sam into his home as a ward
(sam was killed in a carriage
accident a few years later). it was
this world, coupled with the
austere values that alger received
at home, which formed the basis of
the first novel in his ragged dick
series (1867). the book was an
immediate success, spurring a vast
collection of sequels and similar
novels, including luck and pluck
(1869) and tattered tom (1871), all
with the same theme: the rise from
rags to riches. in fact, the theme
became synonymous with alger.
essentially, all of alger's
novels are the same: a young boy
struggles through hard work to
escape poverty. critics, however,
are quick to point out that it is
not the hard work itself that
rescues the boy from his fate, but
rather some extraordinary act of
bravery or honesty, which brings
him into contact with a wealthy
elder gentleman, who takes the boy
in as a ward. the boy might return
a large sum of money that was lost
or rescue someone from an
overturned carriage, bringing the
boy�and his plight�to the
attention of some wealthy
individual. it has been suggested
that this reflects alger's own
patronizing attitude to the boys he
tried to help.
despite his remarkable literary
output, alger never became rich
from his writing. he gave most of
his money to homeless boys and in
some instances was actually conned
from his earnings by the boys he
tried to help. nevertheless, by the
time he died in 1899, his books
could be found in virtually every
home and library in america. his
books may no longer be as popular
today as they once were, but the
moral messages they relayed were an
important factor in the development
of the american dream in the 20th
century.
at the time of his death, alger was
living with his sister augusta. she
destroyed all of his personal
papers, hoping to avoid scandal in
the rigid atmosphere of the
victorian era.
since 1947, the horatio alger
association has bestowed an annual
award on "outstanding
individuals in our society who have
succeeded in the face of
adversity" and scholarships
"to encourage young people to
pursue their dreams with
determination and
perseverance".
(source: wikipedia. all text is
available under the terms of the
gnu free documentation license -
see copyrights for details).
tell me about your "american
dream." what would you like to
achieve in your lifetime? what
steps do you plan to take to
accomplish your goals? do you think
the american dream can be reached
− will americans ever be
satisfied with what we have or will
we continually desire more? is this
good or bad? why?
"And price of oil..."
This American just wants peace & quiet.
I'm working for myself, so I'm alot closer than most.
The "American Dream" of a house you have to scrape with on upkeep all the time, a faux yard, etc isn't mine, so I count myself lucky on that one too.
It's in the corporate interest to not have the majority of people reach their dreams (which for me mean spiritual happiness vs temporal) but just buy crap.
It's in the government interest not to have the majority of people reach their dreams (as above) because of our Roman bindings that urge the nation to "conqueror" in some fashion. People who have reached their dreams don't add to the tax base.
As an aside, when I mentioned spiritual happiness, that doesn't necessarily mean religious.
People by nature always want more. Just look at the people making insane amounts of cash, etc and they aren't happy. But with the national debt, standing of the dollar, and price of oil, (to name a few things) we better get used to finding happiness in a different way from the past. |
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