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An Essay on The Principle of Population
Thomas Malthus publishes the first edition of his famous essay. The work would go on to inspire Charles Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection. -
1832 Reform Act
The 1832 Reform Act introduced widespread changes to the English electoral system, increasing the number of eligible voters to around 1 in 6 adult males. This lead to more support for social welfare and government sponsored programs to assist the poor, due to a more enfranchised middle class who supported these policies. -
Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
Introduced a new system of welfare revolving around workhouses. Social Darwinists were opposed to government programs such as this, because they believed the unfit should be left to die out, not aided so they could live on and reproduce. -
Inspiration
Darwin reads Malthus' essay "On Population" and is inspired, saying: 'Finally I had a theory by which to work". Darwin went on to publish "On the Origin of Species -
Social Statics
An influential book published by Herbert Spencer, in which he outlines a theory of evolution and applies it to social and political settings. Claiming that the poor were biologically inferior and should be allowed to succumb to poverty and disease in order to prevent them form reproducing, Spencer was a strong advocate of laissez-faire economics, and the founder of Social Darwinism. As such, Spencer was against any form of policy that gave aid to the less fit members of society. -
On the Origin of Species
The famous work by biologist Charles Darwin, in which he outlines his theory of Natural Selection and evolution. This theory was subsequently adapted by Herbert Spencer to justify his theories on evolution and public policy -
Principles of Biology
“Principles of Biology” was an extremely influential work by Herbert Spencer, in which he first coined the phrase "survival of the fittest". In this book, Spencer likened his evolutionary theories to those of Darwin, and used Darwin's theory of Natural Selection to justify his thoughts on social and economic policy. -
Reform Act 1867
The second reform act further increased the number of middle class voters, and further increased support for policies that contradicted Spencer's ideas of laissez faire economics and survival of the fittest -
The Descent of Man
This was Charles Darwin's second major publication. It proved to be an expansion of Thomas Malthus's principles of population, and was pioneering in the study of mankind as a species. Furthermore, in The Descent of Man, Darwin expressed ideas about the competition in economics and society being beneficial and productive for mankind, which supported notions of Social Darwinism. -
Public Health Act 1875
The Public Health Act was a government program designed to combat the poor sanitary conditions that lead to death by disease for many of the working class. This is another example of policies that Social Darwinists were opposed to, as they promoted the survival, and therefore the reproductive capabilities, of the "unfit” -
Representation of The People Act 1884
The Representation of the People Act of 1884 gave the vote to 5.5million men in the UK, further enfranchising the middle and some of the working class. All these electoral reforms are important because they giving the vote to more people in the lower classes of society led to increased support for social welfare policies, in contradiction to the polices advocated by Social Darwinists
