Andrea and Overfield, The Human Record, Sources of Global History Vol. II (Cengage) hereafter AO - Essay Example

Teacher Describe condition of the working and middle es in nineteenth century Europe. Then, drawing on the principles of Darwinism justify the conditions described above.It must be stated that the Industrial Revolution has created a new economic class of people which are the middle class. Before the Industrial Revolution, people can either be categorized as the royalties, landowners or the bourgeoisie and the peasants where the bourgeoisie are few and the working class too many. This was changed with the advent of Industrial Revolution as it created the working class or the middle class.

The conditions of the middle are far better compared to the peasants who lived merely on subsistence. The middle class were able to afford many amenities which used to be beyond the reach of most people depending on their stature as middle class if they are traders (which makes more money), craftsman or worker, amenities. Middle class were also able to afford education which used to be exclusive to the royalties and land owners. The rising economic stature of middle class however did not only gave rise to entrepreneurialism and industry but also the drive to profit at the expense of anything that resulted in exploitation.

From having nothing to having the chance of having a lot of things, the middle class was driven to become rich. Thus, social Darwinism came about where the fittest are the only one that will survive.Social Darwinism states that human beings are no different from other organisms such as animals and plants that they too have to struggle to survive resulting in the natural selection of survival of the fittest (Bannister, 2000). This concept is based on the theory of Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution whereby people should be left on their own to compete and advocated a laissez-faire political and economic system that promotes competition in all spheres of life.

As a result, exploitative industrial practice were done during the Industrial Revolution where employing children in the coal mines became rampant that the Industrial Revolution became synonymous with child labor along with its economic prosperity. It is debatable if exploitation and industrial aggressiveness of the middle class to achieve economic prosperity is justified in resorting to Darwinism. Probably, the right operative term would be the consequence of the determination of the middle class to achieve economic prosperity as they tried their best effort to accumulate wealth which they never had before the Industrial Revolution.

And perhaps it could too be justified that such social Darwinism was necessary so that industry will flourish and lay down the infrastructure of the future. It is just a natural phenomenon for people to strive to achieve what they did not have before. Unlike the previous era where people were tied up to their lands and at the mercy of their landlords, the Industrial Revolution allowed people to have a greater control of their fate and their future. It now basically depends on them on how their future will be like depending on their initiative, hard work and perhaps ruthlessness that necessitated the Darwinism in order to get ahead of the competition that was the order of the day.

Work CitedBannister, Robert. Social Darwinism: Science and Myth and On Liberty, Society, and Politics: The Essential Essays of William Graham Sumner. Retrieved [http://autocww.colorado.edu/~flc/E64ContentFiles/SociologyAndReform/SocialDarwinism.html]. March 01, 2015