"
He exerted "little influence" on American politics, Trask continues, though Sumner "praised modern capitalism," believed that the doctrine of "laissez faire is just as applicable to society as it is to the economy," for, "the social order," Trask explains, "like the economy, is government by its own laws and logic of development."
Trask spends a good deal of his article insisting that Sumner's views are more like today's Libertarian views ("society does not need any care of supervision...society [just needs to be] freed from these meddlers..." e.g., big government, Trask paraphrases) than they are in the genre of Social Darwinism.
There may be some degree of truth to what Trask (by the very fact that he is writing in the Journal of Libertarian Studies he becomes in effect a PR spokesman, and clearly an advocate, for Libertarian politics) says about Sumner, but in the Columbia Encyclopedia - which paraphrases five respected books critiquing Sumner's life and scholarship), Sumner did follow Darwinian motifs and themes.
As a sociologist he did valuable work in charting the evolution of human customs - folkways and mores," the Columbia reference article explains. "He concluded that the power of these forces, developed in the course of human evolution, rendered useless any attempts at social reform."
He also authored the term "ethnocentrism," which is used to "designate attitudes of superiority about one's own group in comparison with others," the article on Sumner continues. But meantime, as to the question - "What ideas did Sumner take from...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now