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What is the difference between Social Darwinism and Social Gospel?
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Social Darwinism and the Social Gospel emerged during the Gilded Age in response to industrialization and economic growth. Social Darwinism, based on Herbert Spencer's adaptation of Darwin's theories, justified wealth inequality by suggesting that the rich were naturally superior. In contrast, the Social Gospel, primarily supported by Protestants, opposed this view, emphasizing the moral duty to address social issues like poverty, seeing them as societal failings rather than natural conditions.
Both the Social Gospel Movement and Social Darwinism grew out of the effects of what is often referred to as the Gilded Age—the rise of industrialism and marked economic growth in the United States from roughly 1870 to 1900. During this time, economic growth coincided with (and was closely tied to) advances in technology, increased political involvement and "machine politics" (political party organizations that secured votes for particular parties or candidates by controlling elections and rewarding supporters), wealth inequality, and increased immigration to the US.
The industrialization and economic expansion of the Gilded Age accelerated wealth inequality in the US as entrepreneurs and businessmen like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller (so-called "robber barons") grew incredibly wealthy while many workers struggled to make ends meet, living in crowded city tenements and slums. In order to justify their success at the expense of the lower classes, many wealthy capitalists adopted British...
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philosopher Herbert Spencer's idea of "Social Darwinism." Spencer adapted Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution and applied it to human society, coining the phrase "survival of the fittest." According to Spencer and other proponents of Social Darwinism, some people were naturally stronger and more intelligent than others and were therefore ordained by God to be wealthy, whereas others were destined to live in poverty because they were naturally, intrinsically weaker and inferior.
The Social Gospel movement, on the other hand, largely grew in response to Social Darwinism and the growing inequalities of society. Supporters of the Social Gospel, many of whom were Protestants, believed that greed and corruption caused many of the ills and inequalities of society and industrialization. Thus, rather than seeing poverty and inequality as natural and inevitable, proponents of the Social Gospel felt that it was society's job to care for and correct societal problems like poverty. Social Gospel preaching, combined with the work of people like Jacob Riis, whose photo essay "How the Other Half Lives" provided honest and often shocking glimpses into the horrors of industrialization and poverty, increased social awareness, and helped spawn reform movements during the Progressive Era in the early 1900s.