Herbert Spencer was an influential sociologist, biologist, philosopher and economist during the Victoria era. Although his work was eventually well respected and influential in the intellectual community, it took years for him to evolve and polish his philosophies. At the beginning of his writing career his theories were quite radical and considered rather extreme. Eventually, as he matured and continued to study and meet other influential men of this period, his material shifted to less extreme notions and would eventually be nominated for a Nobel Prize. Despite Spencer’s obvious intelligence, he battled several internal demons and would eventually die alone in a state of severe mental illness. Despite his personal struggle, he is considered one of the most influential sociologists in history.
Spencer was born in Derby, England on April 27, 1820. He was the eldest of nine children, although he was the only child to live past infancy. Unfortunately, Spencer also suffered from major mental and physical illness during his childhood and therefore received home-schooling by his father George, a teacher. Spencer’s father was often described as “unconventional” and did not impart a well-rounded education on Spencer (Sweet, 2004). George Spencer focused on educating his son in the natural sciences, history, and English. Also known for his radical opinions and anti-establishment and anti-clerical viewpoints, Spencer’s father’s influence is easily seen in some of Spencer’s earliest and more extreme writings.
When Spencer was 13 he moved in with his uncle Thomas, a clergyman who focused on a more well-rounded education for Spencer. Thomas’ influence is also seen in some of Spencer’s writings as he also influenced Spencer with h...
... middle of paper ...
...ocww.colorado.edu/~toldy2/E64ContentFiles/SociologyAndReform/Soc alDarwinism.html
Spencer, H. (1857, April). Progess: Its Law and Causes. The Westminster Review, 67, 445-465. Retrieved April 1, 2011, from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/spencer-darwin.html
Sweet, W. (2004, October 22). Spencer, Herbert. In International Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 28, 2011, from http://www.iep.utm.edu/spencer/
Thio, A. (2009). Sociology: A brief introduction (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Wee, A. (2011, October 11). Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). In The Victorian Web. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http://www.victorianweb.org/philosophy/spencer/spencer.html
Weinstein, D. (2009). Herbert Spencer. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2009 ed.). Retrieved April 28, 2011, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spencer/
Three thinkers form the foundations of modern-day sociological thinking. Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. Each developed different theoretical approaches to help us understand the way societies function, and how we are determined by society. This essay will focus on the contrasts and similarities of Durkheim and Weber’s thought of how we are determined by society. It will then go on to argue that Weber provides us with the best account of modern life.
Herbert Spencer was born in England, he is best known for developing and applying the
In “Sociology Hesitant: The Continuing Neglect of W.E.B. Du Bois,” Dan S. Green and Robert A. Wortham describe how W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the first sociologists to conduct empirical research to specifically study human social behavior and yet, throughout history, he is rarely categorized as a sociologist. Du Bois was a well-educated black man who wanted to bring to light “the truth” in society through the discipline of sociology (Green 529). He believed that the truth could be discovered through empirical evidence, and would generate social and policy changes (Green 523). Furthermore, he thought the correct way to conduct research was by following scientific methods of physical science and studying behavioral regularities first hand, however,
Paris, Bernard J. Experiments in Life: George Eliot's Quest for Values. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1965.
Spencer, Robert F. Methods and Perspective in Anthropology. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1954.
Galton’s ideas were heavily influenced by the research of his cousin, Charles Darwin. Most important was the “inheritance of acquired characteristics” which is the basis for the entire idea of eugenics. Galton believed that if intelligence and overall well-being ...
...aust. He saw his race as superior because of its ability to concur not its strength to survive. Herbert Spencer also believed that human advancement was taking from, or destroying other less advanced human races. Examples of this are the colonisation of Australia and India by the British in which they had no problem treating the people of these countries in a bad way. Colonial Britain could justify this racism with Social Darwinism on the basis that they had the power to take over therefore had the right. These ideas were popular in the west in the 19th century because it was a time of much colonisation and Social Darwinism justified the mistreatment of others. Social Darwinism was basically an excuse for racism and although based very roughly around Darwin’s Origin of Species it was used putting the person writing as the superior subject, never in a scientific way.
Amongst them all, James cannot be ignored because he was the key founder of the functionalism school of psychology. On the other hand, Spencer was vocal to further promote this theory to higher levels. He claimed that the structural changes cannot be take place without the impacts of the functional changes. He viewed society as an organism, where the diverse institutions are comparable with those organs in an organism that have like functions. An example would be the government being considered as analogous with a brain and that roads were paralleled with veins. This metaphor has been popular among later social scientists and led to a line of thought called functionalism. James McKeen Cattell and Stanley Hall were also key functionalists with the latter having presented an analysis of how education was fundamental in the lives of young children and many people in the society in general. It is worth mentioning that in as much as the concepts of structuralism and functionalism were sidelined over time, there impact to the field of psychology cannot be ignored. This is because they opened up a platform for further research work on comparable
Samuel Johnson, prominent English author, lived a life which was appears to have been unpretentious on the surface, however his life was filled with numerous complications, extreme suffering and massive psychological troubles. Also, despite all the struggles and suffering in his life, he had a “passionate concern for humanity and even said, ‘I have often thought that there has rarely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful’” ( Green ). Samuel Johnson was born September 7, 1709 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England in the home above his fifty-two year old father’s struggling bookshop. His father had gained prosperity but it did not endure the enterprises he was involved in, forcing the family into financial distress. As a result, Samuel Johnson would feel the financial distress for the first fifty years of his life. Sarah Ford, his mother, was forty years old when he was born. She was from a respectable family but married a poor man of intellectual tastes (Green). His parents did not share a happy marriage and rarely conversed. After his father’s death he developed an appreciation of his mother’s character and determination; she would operate the bookshop for almost thirty years. On the other hand, she was firm, narrow minded and self-centered which made her unable to fill the emotional needs of her children (Green). It is speculated that Johnson’s younger brother may have committed suicide at the age of twenty-five and Johnson’s life would be plagued with psychological issues which were directly related to his mother (Green).
In the New World Bradford and Morton were both important men of our history. The stories of both great men give us an insight into the way religion and influence affected Puritan life.
...e proper descriptions of Douglass’s experiences. These words also justify that he is brilliant and not no fool. His influential words in the narrative support the message of him being smarter than what some people may believe.
Social Darwinism is a late 19th century term used to describe the application of British naturalist Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection to social and political conditions. Late 19th century sociologist Herbert Spencer tried to capture the essence of social Darwinism with his phrase “survival of the fittest”. This essentially meant that the strong would rise to the top while the weak simply died out. Social Darwinists eschew social responsibility and compassion, instead believing that some people are more fit to survive than others. Many social Darwinists advocated that the government should maintain a laissez-faire, or hands off, approach when it came to regulating economic competition and alleviating social inequalities. Social Darwinism was used to justify the consolidation of the majority of wealth by a minority of Americans. The term allowed people to rationalize capitalism, imperialism, racism, and even eugenics. The wealthy believed in social Darwinism because it allowed them to justify their oppressive business tactics and low wages for their labor force. Politicians believed in it because it allowed them to justify imperialism, or expansion of the nation. Affluent Anglo-Saxons believed in social Darwinism, believing themselves to be the superior race, and used it to justify ...
The concept of Social Darwinism was a widely accepted theory in the nineteenth-century. Various intellectual, and political figures from each side of the political spectrum grasped the theory and interpreted it in various ways. In this paper, we will discuss three different nineteenth-century thinkers and their conception of Social Darwinism. The conservative, Heinrich von Treitschke, and liberal Herbert Spencer both gave arguments on the usefulness of competition between people on a global scale. The anarchist, Peter Kropotkin, refuted the belief of constant competition among members of the same species and emphasized mutual aid.
Social Darwinism was one of the most powerful movements in the nineteenth century Germany, believes professor Jerry Bergman. As the movement escalated, Jews became non-human to the Germans. That was one of the reasons the Nazis did not feel any remorse at the time, because they had deprived the Jews of every piece of humanity that they obtained. Social Darwinism was first brought up by British philosopher and sociologist, Herbert Spencer. Social Darwinism goes back to the earliest form, which is Darwinism. Because social Darwinism and Darwinism have similar name, people think they are the same concept, but they are two completely different theories. Social Darwinism was a way to classify the “fit” from the “unfit.” Darwinism, on the other hand, was the way species evolve through time to become more adapt to their environment. Through history, social Darwinism has appeared repeatedly. For example social Darwinism was used in the progressive and imperialism era. Social Darwinism in the holocaust differs from social Darwinism in the Progressive era or the imperialism era, by the ways that people reacted to the situations. Social Darwinism in the holocaust gave scientific justification to the actions of the Nazis (Bergman). Spencer’s theory of social Darwinism, encouraged and pushed the Nazis on subjects such as: stereotyping that led to the Jews to be acknowledged as a race, eugenics, racial supremacy, and the superior race taking out the weaker races.
...ing used as many were relying on experimental methods and the assumptions of positivists to produce explanations that were reductionist instead of holistic and looking at the whole environment and not just the person. The ideology was also criticised during this period as the values of individualism were arising rather than the sociologist ideology that had previously existed (Myers).