22 Chapter 1
Anda particularly laughableelementof Edwin Black’s anti-capitalistbook, War
Againstthe Weak, is that,whencreditingSpencerwithstarting“socialDarwinism,” Black
citesRobertC. Bannister’sScienceand Myth.^93 Here,Blackis not alone.ArthurC. Brooks
drubsSpencerfor being“the father” of “SocialDarwinism.. .” To Brooks,Spencer
espousedthat “the poorand the needy” shouldbe “weededout” and denied“incentives”
to “reproduce” theirgenes.In this drubbing,one of the two sourcesthat ArthurC. Brooks
citesis Bannister’s 1973essay“WilliamGrahamSumner’s ‘SocialDarwinism’: A Recon-
sideration” in volumeFiveof the journalHistoryof PoliticalEconomy.^94 Bannisterrevised
this verysamearticleand had it republishedit inScienceand Mythas its fifthchapter.^95
It is amusingthatBlackand Brooksbothcite Bannisterto validatethatSpencerwasa
socialDarwinist.I am amused,as Bannister’s bookactuallyclarifiesthat “the convention-
al portraitof Spencer” as a socialDarwinist“is bothinaccurateandironic.”Scienceand
Mythcontinues,“ThelabelsocialDarwinism,as eventuallyappliedto Spencer,made
goodpropaganda” as wellas “bad history.. .” Accordingto Bannister,“Darwin’s rheto-
ric of struggleand survivalprovided” anti-capitalistsnot unlikeEdwinBlack“the perfect
vocabularyto caricaturethe allegedinhumanityandbrutality” of freeindustry.More-
over,Bannisterfurtheradmonishesthe likesof Blackfor invokingthiscaricature“to
parodyanyonewhocontinuedto groundpolicyin naturallaw or evenscience.”^96 Parody
is an appropriatedescriptionfor whatBrooksandBlackhavedoneto Spencerin their
writings.BlackandBrookscite Bannister’s researchas if it provestheirpointwhenit
directlycontradictstheirpoint.As observedby sociologistHowardL. Kayein a work
publishedby YaleUniversityPress,“a closereadingof the theoriesof Sumnerand Spen-
cer exoneratesthemfromthe century-oldchargeof socialDarwinismin the strictestsense
of the term.Theythemselvesdid not advocatethe applicationof... ‘the law of the jungle’
to humansociety.”^97 To my consternation,the parodyhas othervictimsas well.Andthe
leftistswhohaveinvokedthe socialDarwinismepithetcompoundthe injustice.Subse-
quentto proclaimingthatthe socialDarwinismof SpencerandSumnerhatchedfrom
free-marketeconomics,theysay thatthe samesocialDarwinismof Spencerand Sumner
siredthe advocacyof eugenicistgovernmentpolicies.To wit,leftistsallegethat,on ac-
countof Spencer’s and Sumner’s involvementin free-marketadvocacy,free-marketadvo-
cacyitselfmustbe blamedfor originatingeugenicslegislationandWorldWarTwo.We
mustaddressthis allegation.
NOTES
- G. Hodgson2004.
- ThatWilliamJenningsBryanhadsuchpresumptionsof guiltagainstbig businessin generalex-
plainswhy,accordingto Chernow1998,388, he was “adored” by “socialists” and “populists.” - Hofstadter1959,200.
- Kolko1963,57.
- Bannister1988,xxx.
- Obama2012,Para.45, accessedonlineFriday,April6, 2012.
- Qtd.in “PaulRyanChallengedon BudgetBy GeorgetownFaculty,”HuffingtonPost, Tuesday,April
24, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/paul-ryan-challenged-by-georgetown-facul-
ty_n_1449437.html,accessedFriday,April27, 2012. - H. Caton1981,106.
- FrederickDouglass,speech,July4, 1852,qtd.in D. W. Root2012,accessedonlineSaturday,April
26, 2014. - DavidBlight,qtd. by D. W. Root2012,accessedonlineSaturday,April26, 2014.
- Borsook2000,3.
- Rees2004,A6, accessedonlineThursday,April26, 2007.Thissamemanpreviouslyusedthe “Social
Darwinism” smearin Rees2003,accessedonlineThursday,April26, 2007.Rees’s 2004attackwasmet
withapplauseby retiredUniversityof HawaiisociologistJeromeG. Manisin “ContemporarySociology