How societies are born, grow and die has been studied for centuries, although often this knowledge has not been systematized until the emergence of the first sociologists.

Sociology is a science that, despite its great importance in understanding the functioning and structure of the societies in which we live, has a relatively recent history. In fact, technically it is considered that its appearance was due to authors such as Auguste Comte or the author to whom this article is dedicated, Herbert Spencer.

Spencer was a well-known philosopher of liberal tendencies who is especially known for integrating into the study of societies some of the main contributions of the theory of evolution, shaping what could now be called social Darwinism. In this article we will see what are the characteristics of Spencer’s theory in terms of its way of explaining the functioning of society.

Main elements of Spencer’s theory

Although Herbert Spencer’s theory was considered controversial in the Victorian era in which he lived, it had an important impact on the social fabric of the time and on the study of societies from a scientific perspective.

Below we present some of the main contributions or basic ideas defended by Herbert Spencer’s theory, on various aspects of reality, but fundamentally centred on society .

Synthetic Philosophy

Herbert Spencer’s philosophical work is extensive, and is attached to a positivist conception of science (in fact he is one of its main promoters and founders).

In it, the author considers that all scientific concepts were limited by the fact that they were based only on the subject’s experience, so their knowledge is based on false premises. To be a scientist, it is necessary that a hypothesis or proposition can be verified and falsified experimentally.

He considered it necessary and in fact he tried to synthesize (hence the name of his philosophy) and unify the scientific knowledge around the laws of nature , being the main and most fundamental one the law of evolution.

Organic theory of society

One of the main theories defended by Herbert Spencer and that although secondary (and later rejected by the same author in later works) is useful to better understand his thought is that of organic analogy.

This theory proposes that the society has a structure and operation analogous and identical to the one that would have a living being , and in fact initially the author himself comes to indicate that a society is an organism in itself.

In this sense, we find that just like any animal or living being, societies are born, grow, reproduce and die, in addition to increasing their complexity and becoming increasingly complex. Likewise, they are organized on the basis of a structure that will become more complex according to the level of evolution of the organism, and will have different systems in charge of different functions.

Also require some kind of management apparatus , which would be the nervous system in animals and governments in societies. There is also a distributive apparatus (circulatory system and/or communication media), a basic maintenance apparatus (food and industry respectively).

However, the fact that there is a clear similarity does not mean that societies and living beings are identical: the living being seeks the benefit of the totality of its being and is the only one that has conscience and decision about its acts, while society is partial and not always unitary and each of its members tends to seek its own benefit, not that of the totality.

It also indicates the existence of two types of societies, the military and the industrialized one, as a reflection of an evolutionary process in which one passes from the first one to the second one as the complexity of the system increases.

What is evolution? Spencer’s theory of evolution

Another of Spencer’s contributions that establishes the beginning of his link with evolutionary ideas is found in his theory of evolution, which establishes the existence of regulatory mechanisms in populations that allow these to be variable, evolve and differentiate.

In this theory the author considers in the Law of Progress that we can consider as progress that process of differentiation, independent of the voluntary control, which directs the evolution.

Based on the conceptions of physics of the time, the author concludes that evolution is a continuous process that requires movement and is defined as “change from incoherent homogeneity to coherent homogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of movement and the integration of matter”.

Social Darwinism

Probably the best known and most important aspect of Herbert Spencer’s theory is the so-called social Darwinism, in which he integrates the main contributions of Darwin and Lamarck to the study of human populations and their functioning.

This concept is established as an attempt to naturalize the social, which is by extension a product of the evolution of the species and conforms to the same rules and norms. In fact, his theory implements the theory of evolution in many of the disciplines and fields existing in society.

One of the most controversial aspects of its theory, social Darwinism establishes an analogy between societies and organisms based on the law of survival of the fittest , the law of natural selection.

If we apply this principle to the birth, evolution and death of societies, we find that for the author the most capable societies must prevail over the less capable ones in order to maintain the continued progress of the latter. This principle also applies to social classes: the richest are more capable than the humblest, so they have a higher survival rate

In this sense, the theory was used to justify the dominance of some peoples over others and the emergence of racist attitudes , or even of war and imperialism, as it was understood that the survival of the strongest allows the maintenance and evolution of society.

Individualism

Another of the best known aspects of Herbert Spencer’s theory is his defence of individualism and liberalism. The philosopher and sociologist considers it necessary to limit the power of the rulers and promote the individual and autonomous development of each member of society.

The author considered that societies should be governed by the laws of nature, with minimal government intervention in the lives of individuals being preferable, including aspects such as education. He considered that progress arose from the adaptation of free citizens to a fluid and changing society.

Now, Spencer also enunciated what would be called the doctrine of freedom , according to which individual freedom ends where the freedom of others begins.

The psychology of adaptation

Another aspect worked on by Spencer is the so-called psychology of adaptation. Again based on the idea of evolution, the author establishes the possibility of knowing the human mind from analyzing the way it has developed , based on the way the nervous system and the brain have formed and evolved.

In this sense, Spencer was influenced by the current of Phrenology, considering that it was possible to establish the existence of certain characteristics from the shape of our nervous system and skull.

Herbert Spencer considered that the psyche developed on the basis of a process by which the different ideas and thoughts were connected to each other until they reflected what was happening in the middle .

The author establishes in this sense that our brain acts mainly on the basis of association, as well as that interpersonal or interspecies differences are found only in terms of the number of associations. This would be a precursor to the study of psychology in which ideas similar to those of behaviourists can be observed.

Education

Spencer’s theory is also familiar with his stance on education, which is largely influenced by his political stance and his view of society.

Spencer considered that the way the classrooms were organized formed a homogeneous set of minds and thoughts that hinder progress and development, which arise from the encounter of different ways of thinking.

The author considered that perhaps formal education was unnecessary as long as society evolves according to the laws, a product of the need to move from uncivilized to civilized, and that it needs to constantly evolve in order to cope with social changes.

Likewise, considered that science should replace many other elements of the school curriculum , including languages. In his eyes, the education and training provided at the time lagged behind social changes, and incorporated little useful knowledge. However, he did observe that little by little changes were taking place that were bringing the educational process closer to natural development.

Bibliographic references:

  • Fressoli, J.M. (n.d.). Beyond the deterministic opposition between subjective culture and objective culture A vitalist reading of Georg Simmel through Henri Bergson.
  • Holmes, B. (1994). Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Prospects: quarterly review of comparative education, 3(4): 543-565. UNESCO
  • Spencer, H. (1893): The Principles of Sociology. Vol. 1. London, Williams and Norgate
  • Spencer, H. (1983) On Social Evolution, edited by Peel, J.D.Y., Chicago: University of Chicago Press