Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism refers to a set of ideologies constructed around a flawed understanding of Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution. Social Darwinism was created as a means of justifying the social order which emerged in Victorian England and in particular the position of the wealthy captains of industry. Social Darwinism can be summarized as "survival of the fittest", that society works at its best when the "strong" are allowed to thrive and rise above the "weak". In the Victorian case, this meant that industrialists were the apexes of humanity -- smart, ambitious, creative and so forth -- while poor people (in particular colonial subjects) were lazy, incompetent, stupid and fit for exploitation. More extreme cases would emerge calling for active removal of "unfit" people from the gene pool, most notably the policies employed by Nazi Germany.

Flaws

Leaving aside the contempt for human life inherent, among Social Darwinism's flaws is the failure to understand the nature of evolutionary theory. The Theory of Evolution is a simple observation of the natural world. It does not make any judgement about whether this state of affairs in nature is right. Darwin spoke poorly of exploitation of local populations by his contemporaries in the British Empire.

Another is the fact that, in terms of evolution, fitness is not some universal construct of value but rather how well something is adapted to its environment. A white rhino is ill-suited to survive on the arctic tundra, and a polar bear is poorly suited to survive on the African savannah.

Social Darwinism in Science Fiction

Social Darwinism often comes up in science fiction as an ideology held by villains.

• In Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the First Emperor of the Galactic Empire instituted a series of Social Darwinist and Eugenic policies, resulting in the deaths of several billion people.