Underpinnings And Effectiveness Of Carnegie's Gospel Of Wealth

Underpinnings and Effectiveness of Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” In Andrew Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth”, Carnegie proposed a system of which he thought was best to dispose of “surplus wealth” through progress of the nation. Carnegie wanted to create opportunities for people “lift themselves up” rather than directly give money to these people. This was because he considered that giving money to these people would be “improper spending”. Through Social Darwinism, he hoped to dispose of the problems of: the Darwinian intellectual revolution, Eugenies, and the hierarchy of race. However his system was inherently flawed because Carnegie built this system on racism and warmongering. This system was built to rationalize why the fittest class, or the white Anglo-saxon men, were always on top.

People became inherently self-interested because there were those who were considered the “fittest” (those were the people on the top), which were contrasted with those who were “unfit” (these people were those who had to work to be at the top). As for the redefinition of competition, this was defined as those who compete would reach the top. This time period was proven to be more cut throat in the way that you had to be inherently selfish to be at the top and competition was a major key factor in becoming part of the “fittest” class. Another ideal that prevailed was the idea that inequality is natural but equality is not. This meant that the world is purely a “dog eat dog” world, and there is no cooperation. This ideal was wrong because without healthy competition and cooperation, the world will not be able to function. Without cooperation, the world would purely be a “dog eat dog” world, and there would only be a select few at the top and no one would be able to work their way to the