Social Darwinism is a theory that says that the same laws apply in human society as in nature. They were identified by Charles Darwin and explain the patterns of natural selection and the struggle for existence. According to Darwin, while the fittest survive in nature, in human society such fitness is determined by the ability of people to adjust to the changing circumstances. Therefore, the successes and failures of an individual are largely determined by the capacity to adapt themselves to the transforming environment. This capacity is insured by a person’s volitional qualities, knowledge, self-confidence, and physical strength.
Personally, I disagree to the arguments presented in Social Darwinism theory. I believe nowadays the success and failures of the individuum are determined not only by his or her personal drawbacks and merits but also by the social environment he or she lives in. Thus, many people born and brought up in Western societies have more opportunities to be a success due to the social structure of these societies compared to Asian or Muslim strictly regulated communities. There, women’s lives are overregulated and, in many cases, they cannot even get school education due to the patriarchy of the societies they live in. In these case, no volitional qualities, courage or intellectual abilities compensate for a poor start in life a person gets, therefore it would be wrong to say that individuals’ successes and failures are determined solely by the ability to adapt to changes.
The same situation goes for legalized discrimination that existed in the American society before the 20th century. Thus, Afro-Americans were denied basic rights and no adaptive qualities were able to help them succeed apart from radically changing the social structure. Thus, I believe social Darwinism adepts to be wrong since they do not consider the power of the environment and the society individuals live in.