Hunting Down Social Darwinism Will This Canard Go Extinct

270 Chapter 11

manyideasthatgavetheirdisciplinea solidfoundationwithwhichto work.Twoevolu-
tionarypsychologistsveryblatantlyborrowfromSumner’s theories—suchas the theory
thatlearnedandconditionedbehaviorsandcustomscountas evolutionaryadaptations
throughoutnaturalselection.Theyare Ian TattersallandNilesEldredge,whostatein
theirbook,The Mythsof HumanEvolution, that

it onlyseemsnaturalto wonderwhythe patternsof biologicaland culturalevolutionare

so similar... A species’ distributionis disruptedby shiftingpatternsof ecological

change.... Extinctionand evolutionappearas reflectionsof a changingphysicalenviron-

ment.ClassicDarwiniantheoryseesthis responseas a directadaptivereaction:change

the environmentand the specieschangeto keeppace.But the sort of reactionwe havein

mindhereisgeographic. Climaticchangetransformsthe distributionsof environments,

oftenfragmentingonce[-]continuoushabitatbelts.Evolutionandextinctionlargelymir-

ror changesin physicalgeography....

Here,then,is a similaritybetweenculturaland biologicalevolutionworthnoting:geog-

raphyseemsto playan importantrolein each.Geographyisolates. Bothculturaland

biologicalevolutionistshavefor overa centuryattributedthe diversityin the systems

theystudyprimarilyto the isolationaffordedby far-flunggeographicdistributions[of

differentorganisms].Thehistoriesof particularsocietiesor speciesare, of course,inde-

pendentof othersocietiesor specieswithwhichtheyhaveno contact....

Thusgeographicpatterns—especiallyisolation—can fosterchangeand consequentstabil-

ity in bothevolutionarysystems[the emphasesare fromTattersalland Eldredge].^26

TattersallandEldredgeoweSumnerandthe mentorof his whoignitedhis fascination
withgene-cultureco-evolution,HerbertSpencer,^27 largedebtsof gratitude.But thanksto
theirmisinformedattitudeconcerningwhatSpencerandSumneradvocated,thesesame
sociobiologistssubjectthesetwo intellectualgiantsto a litanyof insults.In lieu of credit-
ing Spencer,for instance,Tattersalland Eldredgederidehim.As we recallfromchapter1,
evolutionarypsychologistFransde WaaldenigratesSpenceras well,overlookingthe
precedentsthat Spencerset for him.Tattersalland EldredgeresentSpancer’s advocacyof
capitalism,whichtheyassumeto be a zero-sumgamewherein“thereare winnersand
losers.The winnerssurviveand produceoffspring.The loserssimplylose.” Eldredgeand
Tattersallproceedto put up this straw-manrepresentationof Spencer’s philosophy.“The
bestsurvive,and sincetheiroffspringresemblethem,thereis improvementof the popu-
lationas a wholeas timegoesby. Thisis the basisof AdamSmith’s laissez-faire,open-
competitioneconomics.” Thesetwolate-twentieth-centuryscientiststhencontinuethat
Spencerandotherfree-marketersin AdamSmith’s traditionwere“SocialDarwinists”
and “apologistsfor the statusquo wherea privilegedfew enjoyedthe fruitsof the Indus-
trialRevolutionwhilethe masseslaboredin frequentlymiserableconditions.. .”
In the wordsthatTattersallandEldredgeput in theirmouths,Spencerandthe nine-
teenthcentury’s otherfree-enterpriseeconomistsconceivedof suchdrudgeryas “the
logical,inevitableoutcomeof lawsof nature:survivalof the fittest(‘naturalselection’)”
that“put the best(includingthe [laissez-faire]theorists)at the top of the heapin the
continuouscompetitivestruggle.. .” The scientificduothenbreathesa sighof reliefthat
Spencerwaspilloriedby governistopponentswhowerenot “so myopic.Mostsocial
reformersalsobelievedin progressivechangeandimprovement;theysimplywantedto
see moreof the populaceparticipate” in communalprogressby meansof government-
imposedwealthredistributionand regulations.^28 AndTattersalland Eldredgeomitmen-
tion of thosereformists’ supportfor governisteugenics.