| Social Darwinism in American Thought Revised Edition Contributor(s): Hofstadter, Richard (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807055034 ISBN-13: 9780807055038 Publisher: Beacon Press OUR PRICE: $27.72 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 1992 Annotation: Tracing the impact of Darwin on thinkers throughout the gilded Age and the Progressive era, 'Social Darwinism' shows how a politically neutral scientific theory has been adapted with skillful rhetoric to contradictory purposes. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Social History - Social Science | Sociology - General - Social Science | Research |
| Dewey: 301.097 |
| LCCN: 91045525 |
| Physical Information: 0.68" H x 5.58" W x 7.96" (0.71 lbs) 288 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Social Darwinism in American Thought portrays the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers over the implications of evolutionary theory for social thought and political action. Theorists such as Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner adopted the idea of the struggle for existence as justification for the evils as well as the benefits of laissez-faire modern industrial society. Others such as William James and John Dewey argued that human planning was needed to direct social development and improve upon the natural order. Hofstadter's classic study of the ramifications of Darwinism is a major analysis of the social philosophies that animated intellectual movements of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. |