28 Chapter 2
socialistsinvoked“Darwinism.”^6 Theexpressionof socialDarwinismappearedmuch
morefrequentlyin the literatureof the Europeancontinentthanin the U.K.or the Ameri-
cas. The yearof 1880sawFrenchthinkerEmileGautieremployingle Darwinismesocialein
the mannerthatit is normallyemployedat the dateof this writing—as a denunciationof
consensualisteconomics.Thismighthavebeenthe firstoccasionon whichsocialand
Darwinismwereplacedrightnextto eachother.By contrast,in 1910the Russianwriter
JacquesNovicowfumedaboutDarwinismesocialthatwasthe antithesisof laissezfaire—
governistmilitarism.^7 In 1884and 1890,GabrielTardeprovedto be a rarityamongacade-
micians,for he wasone of the handfulof academiciansfromGeoffreyHodgson’s study
whoappliedthe phrasesocialDarwinismwithapproval.Whenhe spokeof socialDar-
winism,though,he referrednot to violentbehavioror economictransactions,but simply
the mannerin whichpeoplelearnednewcustomsby copyingbehaviorstheyhadwit-
nessedbeingpracticedby others.^8 Noneof thesereferencestargetedeitherSpenceror
WilliamGrahamSumneras majorproponentsof a socialDarwinistideology.
The termstartedto see moreAnglophoneusagearoundthe early1900sin the Progres-
sive Era. Thereare recordedinstancesof it beingusedin 1907by sociologist-paleobotanist
LesterFrankWard,^9 whodetestedthe politicsof SpencerandSumner.^10 Youwillrecall
fromBookOneof our trilogy,The Freedomof PeacefulAction(FOPA), thatLesterWard
arguedthatthe biggestperkof havingtax-fundedgovernment-runschools,complete
withmandatoryattendancelaws,is thatsuchschoolscan manipulatethe citizens’ chil-
dreninto becomingsubservientto the State.At any rate,Spencerhad alreadydiedin 1903
andSumner’s demisewouldfollowsevenyearslater,whenthe Anglophoneversionof
thatepithetDarwinismesocial—socialDarwinism—wasstill in its infancy.GeoffreyHodg-
sonhas inquiredinto the historyof the socialDarwinismdesignation.He employed
“largeelectronicdatabases,” suchas the onlineJournalStorage(JSTOR) to plowthrough
“leadingAnglophoneacademicjournals” publishedfromthe nineteenthcenturyto the
present,to accountfor everyacademicreferenceto the termsocialDarwinism. The search
wasdonethrough203,000articlesand reviews.^11 Hodgsonnotesthatthe ideathatsocial
Darwinismwasa popularphilosophyamongWesternersin the nineteenthcenturyhas
“acquiredmythologicalattributes,referringto a pre-1914era” whenthe use of the expres-
sionsocialDarwinism“wasassumedto be prevalent.At leastas far as the Anglophone
academicjournalsare concerned,this assumptionis false.” Hodgsonfoundthatusageof
the phrasesocialDarwinismwas“rareup to the 1940s.”^12 From 1800 to 1915,the expres-
sionpopsup but eleventimes.Between 1916 and1943,the termappearsin forty-nine
differentarticlesandreviews.^13 Hodgsonadds,“NeitherHerbertSpencernor William
GrahamSumnerweredescribedas SocialDarwinistsin this earlyliterature.”^14 Theepi-
thetwouldnot gaintremendouscirculationamongsocialsciencescholars—particularly
withregardto howtheydescribedSpencerand Sumner—until1944.Thatis the yearthat
RichardHofstadterbroughtSDATintothe world.^15 Subsequently,the expressionsocial
Darwinismcouldbe foundin a whopping4,236articlesandreviews,out of a possible
2,475,225,betweenthe years 1944 and2007.Moreover,priorto 1944,a meretwoarticles
fromthe entiredatabasehadreferredto Spenceras a socialDarwinist,andone of these
articleswaswrittenby Hofstadterhimself, 1941 ’s “WilliamGrahamSumner:SocialDar-
winist.” In the entiredatabase,Hodgsonfoundbut one paperexplicitlyadvocatingwhat
it referredto as “socialDarwinism.” Thiswasa paperof CollinWellsthattheAmerican
Journalof Sociologypublishedin 1907.AndwhenWellssaidthat he favoredsocialDarwin-
ism,he simplyreferredto broadchangesin the customsof society;not a strictadherence
to laissezfaire.^16
Thus,writesStanfordUniversityeconomistThomasLeonard,“thoughthe epithet
‘socialDarwinist’ is todaymorecloselyassociatedwithSumnerandSpencerthanwith
anyotherwriters,thatassociationwasall but nonexistentbeforeHofstadterpublished