
Social Evolution
Benjamin Kidd(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 20. July 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
360 pages
978-1-108-00452-7 (ISBN)
Description
In 1894, the British sociologist Benjamin Kidd published Social Evolution, an influential book that summarised and evaluated the prevailing social theories at the end of the nineteenth century: Karl Marx's socialism and Herbert Spencer's social Darwinism. Both of these conflicting theories were based on Darwinian evolutionary theory. In this book, Kidd discusses the immense changes that applied science has brought to the world and the interconnectedness of everyone. The book's ten chapters include discussions of the conditions of human progress, the function of religious beliefs, and the organisation of the working classes. Kidd found flaws in both Karl Marx's and Herbert Spencer's vision of society's future and concluded that religion was essential for the evolution of society because it acts in the interest of generational group survival rather than individual competition. Social Evolution called for a comprehensive study of society because a new era in Western civilisation was beginning.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
584 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-00452-7 (9781108004527)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
1. The outlook; 2. Conditions of human progress; 3. There is no rational sanction for the conditions of progress; 4. The central feature of human history; 5. The function of religious beliefs in the evolution of society; 6. Western civilisation; 7. Western civilisation (continued); 8. Modern socialism; 9. Human evolution is not primarily intellectual; 10. Concluding remarks; Appendices.