Compare And Contrast Social Gospel And Social Darwinism

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Courtney Lachney
The Progressive Era Critical Thinking Activity
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History shows how humans grew. It shows where we all originated from and how we made up our laws and such. History has brought about a lot of change. There are so many different ideals and beliefs that originated in the past. There were so many wars and killing sover things that were sometimes for the worst. Everyone had their own ideas in the past, the same way everyone does now. Thing did not always work out the way our ancestors wanted, but sometimes a surprise is just what we needed. So many things were being invented and thought of back then. Industrialization was making a big start and workers needed reforms. Not everyone could make enough money …show more content…

Social Darwinism is based on Charles Darwin’s natural evolution theory. Charles Darwin’s theory stated that only the fittest of the fit and those that could adapt would survive. Those that did not adapt would die out. Social Gospel was a Protestant Christian movement in the 19th and 20th centuries. In Social Darwinism, a person’s wealth, social status, and property showed their fitness. Poor people were considered lazy and fell under wealthy people and were seen as weak, or not fit to survive. Social Gospel covered excess urbanization and industrialization. Christian people helped workers and poor people and favored them over wealthy people. Social Darwinism favored the wealthy. Social Darwinism appealed to Protestant work ethic and supported laissez-faire policies. In Social Darwinism, is was thought that everyone could “prosper with hard work, intelligence, and perseverance.” Social Darwinism was used by men like, Andrew Carnegie. They used it to support their practices. Social Gospel was used by people like Jane Addams and Theodore Roosevelt.
Although, there are many differences, there are many similarities too. Both Social Darwinism and Social Gospel addressed urban and industrial societies of the 19th century. Social Darwinism may have favored the rich and Social Gospel favored the poor, but they both had connections to Protestant religion or beliefs. The poor was mentioned in both ideals and they