Hi everybody.
I have always thought that Social Darwinist ideas met huge
success in post Civil War America.
However, I recently ran into this old statement by historian David Hollinger who,
referring to the American case, wrote: “Social Darwinism can now claim a
dubious honor: that it has been shown not
to have existed in more places than any other movement in the history of social
theory” (Annals of Science,
1976, vol.33, p.476).
Can anyone help with some recent literature on the true
spread of Social Darwinist views in the US? Note that I am NOT interested
in interpretations of Spencer, etc., but only in data proving (or disproving)
Hollinger’s words, if any exist.
Thanks a lot,
Nicola Giocoli
University of Pisa