Imperialism & Social Darwinism

K.J. Benoy

Imperialism

• “The policy of a state aiming at establishing control beyond its borders over people generally unwilling to accept such control.”

» Encyclopedia Britannica

Reasons for Imperialism

• Old Imperialism– Strategy– Economics– Religion/Cultural

Expansion

• “God, Gold & Glory.”

Reasons for Imperialism

• New Imperialism– Strategy– Economics– Religion/Cultural

Expansion.– Raw Materials& Markets

End of the Classical Liberal Era

• During the mid-19th century, it appeared that Britain was losing interest in maintaining a formal empire.

• Colonies like Canada were encouraged to look after themselves.

New Imperialism• The retreat from formal

empire came to an end when newly industrializing countries began to compete with Britain for global trade.

• Formal control of markets and sources of raw materials became even more important than before.

New Imperialism• A scramble for

colonies ensued in the late 19th century.

• Nowhere was this more clear than in Africa, where only Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent by the dawn of the 20th century.

New Imperialism

• When Germany emerged as a nation in the 1870’s, it too demanded “a place in the sun.”

Social Darwinism– “Some groups of people

survive and compete better than others. The struggle leads to human progress. Some groups advance human progress more than others.” (From Pierre L. van den Berghe, Race & Racism. 1967.

Social Darwinism

• Social Darwinism is really a perversion of the scientific notions of Charles Darwin, taking his ideas about the evolution of animal species and applying the same logic to the evolution of human societies.

Social Darwinism.• Proponents saw

western science as providing material benefits to the world.

• They observed ongoing struggles for territory and commerce.

• They regarded conflicts between men as inevitable.

Social Darwinism• Soft, gentle, kind and

humane groups were apt to lose out to more diabolical rivals.

• Man, in the evolutionary process, bred some races that were superior to others.

• Survival of the fittest ensured progress for all of mankind.

Social Darwinism• Social Darwinism was

accepted by most white westerners.

• Popular non-fiction included the works of Walter Baghot, Benjamin Kidd and Charles Dike.

• Popular fiction writers, like Rudyard Kipling echoed their views.

• Tabloid newspapers upheld these notions.

The British Empire

• There were two kinds of colonies:– The White Dominions

– The Coloured Colonies.

• Internal self-government was fine for the former – but not for the latter.

Imperial Conflict• Imperial powers were liable

to conflict regarding overlapping claims.

• This was usually resolved by negotiations between the powers.

• Sometimes war erupted, but this was not usually the case.

• Coloured people were never consulted about their fate.

Imperial Consequences• For the colonized, the

consequences were often devastating.

• Britain forced China to accept Indian opium imports, with terrible social consequences.

• African societies were often destroyed, as is documented by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.

• The social effects sometimes still persist

Finis