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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Social Darwinism,

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the life of the anthropological party.

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Yeah. Go Darwin.

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All right, give this excerpt a look-see.

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[ mumbles ] All right.

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The sentiment expressed above was primarily a response

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to which of the following economic trends?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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All right, well what exactly is the sentiment expressed in our excerpt?

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Well we see phrases like

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"the men who have not done their duty...

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can never be equal...

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The difference will appear in the position

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they acquire in the body of society...

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and such classes always will exist."

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Hmm.

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Well that sounds like Social Darwinism,

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the idea that the strong will increase in wealth, while the weak

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will decrease.

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We can also tell by the year 1883 that we're

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dealing with the Gilded Age,

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which featured a bunch of industrialization

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and rapid economic growth.

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So let's keep all those things in mind as we look to our answers.

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Is the sentiment expressed in the excerpt a response to

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A - stronger financial regulation?

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Well, remember, this is the Gilded Age we're talking about.

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Big business was everyone's boss,

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so in reality financial regulation was pretty weak

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if it existed at all.

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And if there were no financial regulations,

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well, then forget about breaking up monopolies or trusts.

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So it's a no-go on A and D.

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Could the sentiment be a reaction to B -

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the growth of the middle class?

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Well, there was certainly growth during this period, but it was

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pretty much exclusively for the men who owned those

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big companies. And they got rich - like filthy,

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I could buy two islands kind of rich.

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The middle class?

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Eh, they didn't see their standard of living rise one bit.

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So that eliminates B, as well.

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Which means that the sentiment was a response

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primarily to C - rising inequality between the rich and poor.

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During the Industrial Age, products became cheaper

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to produce, and expansion of the U.S. opened new markets,

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which allowed companies to grow larger than they ever had before.

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But this newfound wealth wasn't evenly distributed,

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and industrialists like Rockefeller and Carnegie had to

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justify their status, relying on scholars

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like our friend William Sumner

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to say that the rich were stronger

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and deserved their wealth.

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So the correct answer is C.

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Survival of the fittest? Well, more like survival of the fattest.

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[ groan ]

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