3(2). Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is an ideology based upon the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin, it justified the concentration of wealth and lack of governmental protection of the weak through the ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest. (web definition) It has been used to justify eugenics (selective breeding for human improvement) programs aimed at getting rid of unwanted genes from the population. The American eugenics movement was popular between about 1910-1930, during which 24 states passed sterilization laws and Congress passed a law restricting immigration from certain areas considered to be unfit.