# Herbert Spencer English philosopher and sociologist who coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" and applied [[Evolution]] theory to human societies. Spencer's work predated [[Charles Darwin]]'s *On the Origin of Species*, but he eagerly grafted natural selection onto sociology and ethics, arguing that unfettered competition was nature's mechanism for progress. His framework gave intellectual cover to [[Libertarianism]], laissez-faire economics, and opposition to poor relief. Spencer's ideas fed directly into the [[Eugenics]] movement and later [[Scientific Racism]], providing a pseudo-scientific veneer for racial hierarchies. Though largely discredited in mainstream academia, Social Darwinist logic persists in right-wing rhetoric whenever social safety nets are framed as interference with natural order. *Stub — expand with: influence on American Gilded Age industrialists, relationship to William Graham Sumner, revival in modern libertarian thought.*