Social Movement in the Gilded Age © Mr. Mark Batik Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas

Darwinism Origin of the Species 1859 Evolution of Humans from lower forms of life Natural Selection

Social Darwinism—Herbert Spencer British philosopher/biologist Social Statistics (1851) Coins “survival of the fittest” and applies to social relations Application was lack of government welfare Laissez-faire attitude Business and corporations buy into Spencer’s ideas

Social Darwinism Carnegie: competition is beneficial for the race William Graham Sumner: Capital, however, as we have seen, is the force by which civilization is maintained and carried on.  From the Forgotten Man

Social Darwinism in the Courts Lochner v. New York (1905) ◦ 60 hour week for bakery workers ◦ violates liberty of Contract Along with Dred Scott, seen as the worst decision in the history of the Supreme Court

Lochner as Social Darwinism Decision rests on Liberty of Contract Anti regulation Pro-competition Dissent refers to Spencer’s application

Reform Darwinism Lester Frank Ward A role for government and regulation "[Collectivism and individualism] are not opposites but concomitants. Spencer lost sight of the first law of evolution which is that it must take place in the direction of the advantage of the organism, and in the social organism this is the opposite of what it is in animals, and consists in securing the interests of the parts--i.e., individual--instead of the whole. Every step in the direction of a true collectivism has been and must be a step in the direction of true individualism."

Mugwumps Former Republicans who supported Cleveland Reformers Challenged political corruption

Jacob Riis Police reporter How the Other Half Lives (1890) Reform could help the poor because their condition was the result of their environment not their nature

Henry George Progress and Poverty (1879) Questions why poverty persists as society progresses The gulf between the two classes Solution: single tax

Social Gospel Movement Protestant reform movement Challenge to the effects of capitalism Brother’s keeper— the purpose of wealth was to help the needy Washington Gladden

Anarchism The idea that the state must be overthrown because the state itself is corrupt, a tool of the corrupt, rich and powerful The state is replaced by a more cooperative mode of action A social movement, not necessarily a destructive one

Socialism Main American example, Eugene Debs Debs runs for president as a socialist, in 1912 polls 900K Marx thought America would be a key site for the revolution Typified by the idea of collective ownership of the means of production Influences labor, reform, and regulation