The Survival of the Fittest, the Survival of Both

The Survival of the Fittest, the Survival of Both Competition creates chalenges, chalenges act as incentives to increased effort, and this leads to reaching new heights of success. M odern industry was a boon for mankind, but at the same time its existence created a bad and unfair situation. Those who were able to invest more money in industry emerged as masters of the market, while moneyless people were seen as a deprived group. This situation in the economy created a new saying, that is, compete or perish. An English thinker, Herbert Spencer (1820 – 1903), justified this development by a theory which he termed Social Darwinism. This theory, according to him, means, “Society is like a living organism. Just as biological organisms evolve through natural selection, society evolves and increases in complexity through the survival of the fittest, that is, the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.” Where Darwin had applied this concept to biological phenomena, Spencer applied it to socio-economic phenomena. In science, Darwinism is still a controversial theory. At present I have nothing to say on this score. But I would like to say a few words about Social Darwinism.