Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Part I. Defining Social Darwinism: Introduction: the identity of Social Darwinism; 1. Defining Social Darwinism; 2. The distinctiveness of Social Darwinism; Part II. Pioneers: 3. The emergence of Social Darwinism; 4. Herbert Spencer and cosmic evolution; 5. Social Darwinism in the USA; 6. Social Darwinism in France and Germany; Part III. Case Studies: 7. Reform Darwinism; 8. Races, nations and the struggle for existence; 9. The eugenic conscience; 10. Social Darwinism, nature and sexual difference; 11. Nazism, Fascism and Social Darwinism; Postscript: Social Darwinism old and new: the case of sociobiology; Bibliography.

Promotional Information

An analysis of the ideological influence of Social Darwinists in Europe and America.

Reviews

'Hawkins's important and ambitious book aims to show the profound adaptability of social Darwinism …' Contemporary European History