40 Chapter 2
- Westerncolonialism(Spencerand Sumneragainst,eugenicistsfor).
- Compulsorysterilization(Spencerand Sumneragainst,eugenicistsfor).
- Openimmigration(Sumnersupportedit, eugenicistsopposed).^127
DanielKevles’s ownknowledgeof the matter,though,has not stoppedhimfromhimself
besmirchingSpencerandSumner.Overseventeenyearsafterhe admittedthatSpencer
opposedgovernisteugenics,Kevlesneverthelessco-authoredwithotheracademicians
InventingAmerica:A Historyof the UnitedStates. Thisworkfollowsthe conventionsof
categorizingSpencer,Sumner,andgovernisteugenicistsin the generalclassof social
Darwinistand of implyingthat governisteugenicswas consensualistideologytakento its
logicalconclusion.As I thinkthatthoseresponsiblefor this travestyshouldbe publicly
identified,I willnameKevles’ co-authors:PaulineMaierandMerrittRoeSmith,both
historiansat the MassachusettsInstituteof Technology;and AlexanderKeyssar,a profes-
sor of historyandsocialpolicy at HarvardUniversity’s JohnF. Kennedy Schoolof
Government.OncetheyhavefinishedtrashingSpencer,this braintrustannounces,“The
foremostAmericanadvocateof socialDarwinismwasWilliamGrahamSumner.... A
prolificwriter,Sumnerspent... decadesdevelopingand promotingthe Spencerianand
socialDarwinistideasthatfirstcapturedhis attentionin the 1870s.Denouncinggovern-
mentintervention,socialism,protectionism,andsocialreform,Sumnerdefendedeco-
nomicinequality.... Not surprisingly,Sumner’s viewswerewidelyapplaudedby busi-
nessleadersand politicalconservatives.” UponestablishingsocialDarwinism’s capitalist
credentials,thesescholarsattemptto tie socialDarwiniancapitalismto imperialism,as
“socialDarwinistnotionsof ‘survivalof the fittest’ seemedreadilyapplicableto the inter-
nationalarena.” HencethesesocialDarwinists“arguedthatinternationalconflictwas
inescapableandwouldsurelyleadto Americaneconomic,political,andculturaltri-
umphs.” Thisworldviewtherefore“lent supportto effortsto implantthe Americanway
of life, and Protestantreligion,in distantcornersof the globe” by meansof force.^128
Besidesthe mutualconcernthatSpencerandSumnerhadin commonwithgovernist
eugenicistsovernaturalselection,thereis anotherdisingenuousrationalethatpolitically
correct(PC)leftistshaveexploited.TheyexclaimthatmostsocialDarwinists—including
Spencer,Sumner,and the eugenicists—engagein thesetwo behaviors.
- Theyappliedtheoriesrelatingto biologicalcompetitionto the socialsciences.
- Theyprovidedapologiasfor “socialinequality.”
I willbrieflyaddresseachof thesepurportedcharacteristics,one by one.It wasin 1932
thatan academicianfirstproclaimedin printthatsocialDarwinismis to be definedas
“the applicationof Darwinianconceptsof variationandselectionto socialevolution.”
Thosewerethe wordsof HarvardUniversitysociologistTalcottParsons(1902–1979).^129
Thatthe free-marketevolutionistsand governisteugenicistsalikeprescribedpublicpoli-
cy, accordingto theirownrespectiveinterpretationsof biology,cannotbe denied.This
practice,whichHofstadterresents,is Hofstadter’s official,explicitcharacterizationof
socialDarwinism.TheprefaceofAmericanThoughtdefinessocialDarwinismas “the
adaptationof Darwinismandrelatedbiologicalconceptsto socialideologies.” Chapters
later,AmericanThoughtfurthergeneralizedthe definitionto “biologicallyderivedsocial
speculation.” Theintroductionto the book’s 1959editiongoesas far as sayingsocial
Darwinismencompasses“the effectof Darwin’s workuponsocialthinkingin America.”
In contrastto the thinkingof more-modernleft-wingerssuchas E. O. WilsonandPeter
Singer,SDATpronouncedthat knowledgeaboutnaturalselectionproves“utterlyuseless
in attemptingto understandsociety.”^130 The ReligiousRightwouldnot disputeHofstad-
ter on this count.