Herbert Spencer

Examples of Herbert Spencer in the following topics:

• Social Darwinism in America

  • Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era.
  • Spencer proved to be a popular figure in the 1880s primarily because his application of evolution to areas of human endeavor promoted an optimistic view of the future.
  • Burgess developed theories of social evolution as a result of their exposure to the works of Darwin and Spencer.
  • Andrew Carnegie, who admired Spencer, was the leading philanthropist in the world (1890–1920), and a major critic of imperialism and warfare.

• The Social Problem

  • Following Darwin's idea of natural selection, English philosopher Herbert Spencer proposed the idea of social Darwinism.
  • This new concept justified the stratification of the wealthy and poor and coined the term "survival of the fittest. " Joining Spencer was Yale University professor William Graham Sumner, whose book What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (which was first published in 1884) argued that assistance to the poor actually weakens their ability to survive in society.

• Laissez-Faire and the Supreme Court

  • Herbert Spencer's Social Statics."
  • This was a reference to a book in which Spencer advocated a strict laissez-faire economic philosophy.

• Social Justice

  • In Dynamic Sociology (1883), Lester Frank Ward laid out the philosophical foundations of the Progressive movement and attacked the laissez-faire policies advocated by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, while Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) attacked the "conspicuous consumption" of the wealthy.

• Conclusion: Trends of the Gilded Age

  • Following Darwin's idea of natural selection, English philosopher Herbert Spencer proposed the idea of social Darwinism.
  • This new concept justified the stratification of the wealthy and poor, and it was in this proposal that Spencer coined the term "survival of the fittest."
  • Joining Spencer was Yale University professor William Graham Sumner whose book What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1884) argued that assistance to the poor actually weakens their ability to survive in society.

• The Gilded Age

  • Nevertheless, many business leaders were influenced by Herbert Spencer's theory of Social Darwinism, which justified laissez-faire capitalism, ruthless competition, and social stratification.

• Herbert Hoover: The Great Engineer

  • Herbert Hoover was a globally trained engineer, having become extremely wealthy by 1914.
  • Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st President of the United (1929–1933).
  • Herbert Hoover, aged 23; taken in Perth, Western Australia in 1898

• Al Smith and the Election of 1928

  • Democrat Al Smith, the first Roman Catholic presidential nominee, lost the 1928 election in a landslide to Republican Herbert Hoover.
  • He was also a strong opponent of Prohibition and the first Roman Catholic nominee for U.S. president, which pitted him against Republican Herbert Hoover.
  • The Republican Party of the 1920s was publicly identified with the thriving economy of the post-World War I period and Herbert Hoover personified that success.
  • Republican Herbert Hoover defeated Al Smith in the election of 1928 to become the 31st President of the United States.

• Hoover and the Limits of Individualism

  • Rugged individualism was the phrase often used by Herbert Hoover during his presidency.

• The Scopes Trial

  • The 1960 film version, starring Spencer Tracy, Frederic March and Gene Kelly, was nominated for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes.
  • Inherit the Wind, a 1960 film starring Spencer Tracy, dramatized the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.