Social Darwinism is a modern name given to various theories of society which emerged in the
United Kingdom,
North America, and
Western Europe in the 1870s, and which claim to apply biological concepts of
natural selection and
survival of the fittest to sociology and politics. Economically, social Darwinists argue that the strong should see their wealth and
power increase while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. Different social-Darwinist groups have differing views about which groups of people are considered to be
the strong and which groups of people are considered to be
the weak, and they also hold different opinions about the precise mechanisms that should be used to reward strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress
competition between individuals in
laissez-faire capitalism, while others are claimed to have motivated ideas of
eugenics,
racism,
imperialism,
fascism,
Nazism, and struggle between national or racial groups.