46 Chapter 2
the forefrontof government-mandatedeugenics.ThemyopialikewisehelpsHofstadter
evadethisconclusion:if eugenicistscountas socialDarwinists,thenreveredhistorical
figuresof the politicalLeft’s pantheonwouldalsohaveto be rememberedas such.In-
deed,in Hofstadter’s ownwords,“eugenics... has provedto be the mostenduring
aspectof socialDarwinism.” Consequently,it is quitetellingthatSDATidentifiesKarl
Pearsonas a socialDarwinistwho“set the toneof eugenics... whenhe estimatedthe
heredityaccountsfor nine-tenths” of a person’s intellectual“capacity.” Whatis conspicu-
ous aboutthis is thatHofstadterdivulgesnot a peepaboutPearson’s explicitlysocialist
convictions.^157 It is thereforenaturalthatleft-wingersfamiliarwithHofstadter’s works
regardfascismand Spencer’s Manchesterismto be equalprogenitorsof socialDarwinism.
It is alsoeasyto comprehendthe reasonwhythosewhoreadSDATwouldconcludethat
Spencer’s “conservatism” couldsomehowgivebirthto the “conservative” ideaof eugen-
ics legislation.Sadly,for decadesHofstadter’s misrepresentationswentunchallengedex-
ceptby a tinycadreof intellectualssuchas RobertC. BannisterandDavidBellomy.For
the mostpart,notesGeoffreyHodgson,AmericanThoughthas been“the seminaltreatise
on SocialDarwinism,and it has driventhe discussionof the topiceversince.”^158
TheconsequentmisconceptionsaboutSpencer’s allegedlyright-winginfluencehave
wroughtmyriadnegativerepercussions.Amongthemis thatSpencerandSumner—
lifelongenemiesof jingoism—havebeenrepeatedlymisidentifiedas warmongers.They
wouldwageno war,but I shalldo so at this moment.I am at waragainstthis misrepre-
sentationof Spencerand Sumner.
NOTES
- M. Ridley1999,288.
- M. Roach2005,107–108, 223, withthis partof the bibliographylistingM. Ridley1999.
- A. Kelly1981,101.
- G. Hodgson2004.
- T. C. Leonard2009,40 n. 8, accessedonlineSunday,November6, 2011.
- O. Schmidt1879,accessedonlineThursday,October27, 2011.
- Bannister1988,258 n. 3, 4. ItalianwriterG. Vadalà-Papaleemployedthe expressionin 1882,Gariel
de Tardein 1884;Emilede Laveleyein 1885,AchilleLorain 1896,GabrielAmbonin 1899.To see the exact
bibliographicinformationon thesesources,consultBannister1988,257–58 n. 3. - G. Hodgson2004.
- LesterFrankWardusedthe termsocialDarwinismin 1907in theJournalof AmericanSociology(see
Degler1991,12, 351 n. 11). However,it wasHofstadterwhogot it to catchon in academia,as is notedin
G. Hodgson 2004 and in A. Kelly1981,101. - Ward’s differenceswithSpenceroverpoliticaleconomy,and his outrighthostilityto Sumner,can
be readaboutin Bannister1988,127. - T. C. Leonard2009,40 n. 9, accessedonlineSunday,November6, 2011.
- G. Hodgson2004.
- T. C. Leonard2009,40, accessedonlineSunday,November6, 2011.
- Hodgson’s paperis Hodgson2004.Its abstractcan be readat http://tinyurl.com/2tbg8w,accessed
Saturday,May26, 2007.
15.SDATis Hofstadter1959.Thatit wasHofstadterwhopopularizedamongacademiciansthe usage
of thesocialDarwinismepitheton Spencer,Sumner,and free-marketadvocates,is notedin Hodgson2004.
Interestingly,accordingto EricFoner’s Introductionto the 1992editionofSDATin Hofstadter1992,xiii,
RichardHofstadterwas but twenty-sixyearsold whenhe completedSDATin 1932. - G. Hodgson2004.
- T. C. Leonard2009,40, 45, 45 n. 24, 49, accessedonlineMonday,November7, 2011.
- Eric Foner,Introductionto 1992editionofSDAT, in Hofstadter1992,xviii.
- S. Jacoby2008,61n.
- A. Kelly1981,171, Ch. 6 n. 1.
- D. C. Bellomy1984,2.
- G. Hodgson2004.
- B. Schwartz1986,46.