Usual aim of social science is to improve people via education and material conditions (e.g., hygiene, safety in the workplace, freedom from shoddy merchandise, freedom from moral discrimination). Social Darwinism rejects such aims.
Themes of Social Darwinism.
1. Humans, like plants and animals, compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in survival of the fittest.
2. Governments should not interfere with human competition by attempting to regulate the economy or cure social ills such as poverty.
3. Advocates a laissez-faire political and economic system that favors competition and self-interest in social and business affairs.
4. Justifies imbalances of power between individuals, races, and nations.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903).
Sickly child, oldest of 9 and the only child to survive. Spencer published 10 books between 1860 and 1897 on Social Darwinism.
1841-1844 wrote for the radical press arguing for restriction of government regulations. Argued that all government functions, with the exception of police, should be privatized.
1848 - sub-editor of the "London Economist". Met prominent Victorians including Thomas Huxley and John Tyndall (associates of Darwin).
1850 - published "Social Statistics" - Argued that through competition social evolution would automatically produce prosperity and personal liberty. Coined phrase "survival of the fittest".
1853 - Uncle died and Spencer inherits large sum of money.
1855 - publishes "Principles of Psychology" - mind exists in its present form because of past and continuing efforts to adapt to various environments.
1859 - Darwin publishes "On the origin of species"
1862 - Spencer publishes "First Principles" -
a synthetic philosophy - Introduces Social Darwinism.
1864-1867 - publishes several volumes of "Principles of Biology"
1873 - "Study of Sociology"
1870s-1890s- Volumes "Principles of Ethics"
1883 - Andrew Carnegie sponsors Spencer's speaking tour of the U.S.
1884- "The Man versus the State"
1904 - "Autobiography" (Posthumous)
Spencer relied on the analogy between the individual and social organization. Individual has a consciousness and the social organization has a shared consciousness.
Society existed solely for the benefit of the individual and emerges in response to the social and natural environment. Civilization (society) was a process by which humans adjusted to an increasingly complex social environment.
Since the results of interfering with such a natural order could not be predicted, he proposed non-interventionism. Government intervention distorts the necessary adaptation of society to its environment.
The state (civilization, society) can only protect the rights of the individual and protect against outside enemies. He argued for individualism and laissez-faire economics & criticized governmental attempts to regulate levies & opposed subsidies for education and housing.
Businesses or institutions that could not adapt to the environment were unfit for survival. Government support of poorly functioning enterprises (people, groups, organizations, institutions, etc.) would allow them to endure and weaken society. By assuring that only the best survive, societies will achieve perfection.
The best society is based on contracts between individuals pursuing their own interests. Spencer identified Utopian society - human perfection is inevitable as long as nothing was done to interfere with the natural order of things.
Social welfare distorts social order and leads to tyrannical and militant social order. Social welfare programs interfere with natural selection and degrade the species. Welfare prevents poor from achieving in society or maintains the unsuccessful as a burden to the successful. Since the least intelligent is bound to die off, general level of intelligence is bound to rise.
Francis Galton (1822-1911) - Darwin's cousin.
Did not respect the mega-rich, industrialists, or hereditary aristocrats (his brothers were country gentlemen).
Father dies in 1844 leaving him a large inheritance.
1845 - travels to Egypt and middle east (speaks Arabic) "goes native"
1850 - travels to Southern Africa - maps areas and "goes native"
Measurement theme - constantly counting (fidgets in audience and attentiveness), maps meterological conditions in Great Britain, create "Beauty map" of Britain.
Quetelet - statistical methods - 10,000 individuals' height approximates a normal curve.
Galton - normal curve everywhere - University exams, psychophysics, etc. Invents quincunx. Discovers regression to the mean - implies that if left to its own devices, population remains mediocre. Natural Selection -> improvement.
1869- "Hereditary genius" - statistical analysis of biographical dictionaries "outstanding men are related"
1874 - "English men of science" - sent questionnaire to every fellow of Royal Society "can you trace your interest....?"
1883 - "Inquiries into human faculty" - Foundation for Eugenics, Statement of eugenic theory, Selective breeding of "best" stock
1884 - Anthropometric Laboratory - Galton counts, experiments, invents instruments, and records "data". Measurement techniques - word associations, test batteries, questionnaires, normal distribution, twin comparison, regression and correlation concepts.
Mental test - acute sensitivity to sounds, colors, weight, odors, distance, reaction time
Mental imagery - more educated the worse the imaging (correlation!). Images of women and children are more concrete
Association of ideas - 40% to childhood and adolescent experiences - proposes child development of personality
1901 - Foundation of Eugenics Society - Artificial selection - the production and wellbeing of the "fit"
1904 - Carnegie funds Cold Springs Harbor Institute to study evolution (especially eugenics). Careful planning through proper breeding will improve society.
Eugenics.
1900 Medelian Genetics rediscovered and notions of improving humanity are transformed into an institutionalized movement. Positive eugenics seeks ways to increase breeding of especially "fit" individuals. Negative eugenics seeks ways to restrict breeding or "unfit" types.
1911-1930 24 states pass sterilization laws and laws restricting marriage.
1924 - U.S. immigration Act was passed to restrict immigration of certain groups of people.
Psychological Testing Movement.
James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944)
1879 - studied in Germany
1880 - Philosophy at John's Hopkins - recorded effects on mental life of: hashish, morphine, opium, caffeine, tobacco, chocolate).
1886 - PhD from Germany. Visited Cambridge University and met Galton. Although math illiterate, chose to study the measurement of individual differences, emphasized quantification (ranking and rating), taught statistical analysis of experimental results. Strongly favored eugenics.
1888 - made professor at U of Penn.
1891 - went to Columbia & remained for 26 years (1917), dismissed for pacifism during WW I.
Cattell coined the term "Mental Tests" in 1890. Correlated test scores (measurements of sensory and motor activities) with student's academic achievement and performance.
Alfred Binet (1857-1911).
1904 - French ministry of Education appointed commission for studying learning abilities of children having difficulties in school. Binet & Psychiatrist Theodore Simon studied tasks children could master at different ages. Provided a measure of human cognitive abilities (memory, attention, imagination, comprehension).
Three years later (1907) introduced concept of mental age.
Henry Goddard worked with mentally retarded children (he labeled "feebleminded") at a private school in Vineland, NJ. Considered Binet's test to measure deficiency.
1912 - Goddard Visited Ellis Island & assessed intelligence of immigrants (87% of Russians, 83% of Jews, 80% of Hungarians, 79% of Italians were feebleminded with a mental age below 12).
1916 - Lewis B. Terman standardized 1911 Binet scales & called it Stanford-Binet, adopted the IQ concept (developed by German psychologist William Stern) - ratio of MA/CA.
Impact of WWI - Army faced with problem of assessing ability of recruits to classify and assign them to suitable tasks.
1917 - Robert Yerkes president of APA - gets congressional commission for psychological examination of recruits. Chooses Arthur S. Otis test with multiple choice questions (Army Alpha and Beta Tests). Beta test for non-English speaking and illiterate people (instruction was given by pantomime and demonstration). 1,726,000 tested but war over before used.
The publicity of the Army tests was important. In 1920s testing emerged as the thing to do and IQ became a means for placing students.
Testing gave Psychology a practical reputation. The 1924 Immigration Act and federal and state sterilization laws were supported by psychological test information.
Schools became education factories and tests measured the quality of the products.