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Social Evolution Spencer
Social Evolution Spencer
Evolution was in the air and developmental thinking can be found in a variety of
different fields.
The word evolution was borrowed from Latin ēvolūtiō, ēvolūtiōnis, which means,
“the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening .
Their term evolution is borrowed from the biological science of sociology, From
the term ” organic evolution ” .
Whereas organic evolution is used to denote the evolution of organisms social
evolution is used to denote the evolution of human society.
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher,
biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social
Darwinism.
His principles included physical and biological evolution in order to elaborate and
explain his theory of Social evolution.
He sketches a comprehensive account of evolution of the inorganic, organic, and
human and social realms.
He stated ,
“In respect to that progress which individual organisms display
in the course of their evolution,”
Spencer adopted his principle of evolution from naturalist Charles Darwin, who
developed the concept of evolution in his “Origin of Species” in 1859.
Herbert Spencer, used Darwin’s theory and applied it to how societies change and
evolve .According to Spencer societies were bound to change automatically .
Herbert Spencer utilized these two principles, physical and biological evolution in
order to explain social evolution.
This movement from simple to compound societies can be seen in four types of
societies in terms of evolutionary levels
• Simple Society:
• Compound societies
• Double Compound societies
• Trebly Compound societies
According to Spencer, the law of evolution is the supreme law of every becoming.
From the analysis of biological evolution Spencer established the theory of
evolution.
He argued that the evolution of human societies, far from being different from
other evolutionary phenomena. It is a special case of a universally applicable
natural law.
According to some social thinkers Herbert Spencer’s has several criticism ,
They said that theory lacks practicability and is realistic.
It also lacks uniformity.
Qualities like sympathy, sacrifice, kindness, love etc. are of much Importance in
human survival . These are quite different from the struggle for existence.