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A nation faithful to democracy is blessed and called to spread this "good news" throughout the nations "(Withrow,2007, p.15 ).
Coupled with this "gospel" was the support and verification of major scientific theories during this period. Social Darwinism was derived from Darwin's work on the evolution of the species. In essence, Darwin's theory of human evolution refers to the principle of the 'survival of the fittest," on which the ideal of human progress becomes possible. Therefore, taking this principle into account, Social Darwinism attempt to explain and justify the social and economic inequalities in society in terms of those who are the strongest and fittest in the society i.e. those who are the most prosperous and who accumulate the most. Therefore, the vision that this theory produced was one that favored and justified the strongest and most successful in society.
In order to understand the impact of Social Darwinism one also has to understand the importance and respect given to science in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Darwinism was seen by many to be a scientific explanation of the truth of nature. This was also the era were science was the accepted method of understanding natural and social life and this therefore adds to its status and verifiability. Applying this model to society therefore means that those who could accumulate the most wealth were seen not as being acquisitive or "greedy" but rather as being at the top rungs of the ladder of social evolution. In the final analysis both the Gospel of wealth and Social Darwinism provide an ideological and moral basis of the justification of the accumulation of wealth.
In conclusion, the industrial leaders of the 19th century used two different but linked ideological means of justifying the accumulation...
The first that was discussed was the ideology of the accumulation of wealth as a means of prosperity for all that was in fact sanctioned by an interpretation of the ideal of prosperity in the Bible. The Christian Gospels were used to support the ideal of wealth accumulation as being justified on the grounds that God helped those who helped themselves.
This was strongly aligned with the rise of democracy and the ethos of independence and entrepreneurship. This view was also bolstered by the theory of Social Darwinism, which claimed to provide insight into the truth behind human evolution and progress. Evolution was based on the survival of the fittest and this was translated into the social milieu in terms of business and the accumulation of wealth.
It should also be noted that both these ideological stances underwent interrogation and 'deconstruction' in the latter half of the twentieth century. While they provided a basis for the justification of the accumulation of wealth during the late nineteenth century, many modern theorists have questioned their foundational assumptions.
References
Carnegie a. The Gospel of Wealth Reflection Questions. Excerpts of an essay written by Carnegie in 1889. Retrieved from http://learningtogive.org/resources/stories/gospelofwealth/
De Santis, V. The American Gilded Age Revisited. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 29
(2), pp. 354 -- 367. Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119538983/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Withrow L. Success and the Prosperity Gospel: from Commodification to Transformation a Wesleyan Perspective. Journal of Religious Leadership, 6(2). Available from http://arl-jrl.org/Volumes/Withrow07.pdf.
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