TWO
The Conflationof LaissezFairewith
Regulation-ImposedEugenics
TwoOpposingIdeologiesSqueezedTogether,Beneaththe SocialDarwinism
Umbrella
It is not enoughfor the criticsof HerbertSpencer,WilliamGrahamSumner,and John
D. Rockefellerto try to impugnthemas hatersof the underclass.RichardHofstadter,
EdwinBlack,and othershavegoneas far as insinuatingthatSpencerand Sumnerpaved
the wayfor EuropeanimperialismandNaziism.Thesecriticshavelargelysucceededin
perpetuatingthis misconception.As I writethis,supposeddefendersof the freemarket
acceptthatbeliefuncritically.For instance,MattRidley—a Britishornithologistand evo-
lutionary-psychologypromoter—is oftenquitereliable.It thereforedisappointsme that
Ridleyuttersa falsehoodaboutHerbertSpencer.Accordingto Ridley,Spencer“called”
his ownideologyof “laissez-faireeconomics” and “individualism” by the nameof “social
darwinism.”^1 CitingRidley,journalistMarionRoachfromthe NationalPublicRadio’sAll
ThingsConsideredrepeatsthe claim—”the term‘socialDarwinism’” comesdirectly“from
Spencer’s work.” Thenin inadvertenthypocrisyMs. Roachcommentsthatthis phraseis
“wronglyattributedto Darwin.”^2
Scholarshaveyet to unearthany recordof Spencerplacingthe wordssocialandDar-
winismtogetherconsecutively.Therewereindeedlate-nineteenth-centurypunditswho
appliedtheoriesaboutnaturalselectionto theirdefenseof the nightwatchmanstate.But
the readermaybe surprisedto learnthat thesepunditsdid not actuallyemploythe words
socialDarwinismto describetheirsystemsof thought.A laudablesourceof informationon
thissubjectis AlfredKelly,HamiltonCollege’s EdgarB. GravesProfessorof Modern
EuropeanHistory.Quiteplainly,Kellystates,“No onein the latenineteenthcentury
calledhimselfa socialDarwinist.”^3 BusinessmanagementprofessorGeoffreyHodgsonof
the Universityof Hertfordshireconcurs:“Therewasno self-declaredschoolof Social
Darwinists.... In fact,neitherSpencernor Sumnerusedthe term‘SocialDarwinism.’”^4
In 1877,the termappearedin a paperthat JosephFisherpublishedinTransactionsof the
RoyalHistoricalSociety. Thispaper,“A Historyof Landholdingin Ireland,” describedthe
British’s feudalisticoccupationof Irelandas cruelsocialDarwinism.^5 OscarSchmidt,a
professorof the Universityof Strasburg,employedthe expressionDarwinismin connec-
tionwiththe socialsciencesin an 1879issueof the AmericanmagazinePopularScience.
But in thisarticleSchmidthadcriticizedsocialistsandthe pretensethatevolutionary
theorysomehowprovedsocialism’s veracity.Schmidtdid not findit convincingwhenthe
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