Belief Culture Redux: (Social) Darwinism from the Right
The U.S. is a belief culture, from our persistent clinging to creationism over evolutionary science to our unwavering claims that the U.S. is a meritocracy.
The great irony of this belief culture is that the popular rejection of Darwinism is supplanted by a very palpable embracing of Social Darwinism. Americans believe deeply in the rugged individual, the power of the free market (that glorious invisible hand) along with the cleansing effect of competition, and the foundational principle of choice.
At the center of this belief culture, in fact, appears to be an unwavering faith in choice, a faith so powerful that it blinds most Americans to their repeated claims of also believing in a need for greater economic equity. Krishna Savani of Columbia Business School and Aneeta Rattan of Stanford University, in a study published forPsychological Science, have confronted these "contradictory opinions on wealth" beneath the trust in choice:
The great irony of this belief culture is that the popular rejection of Darwinism is supplanted by a very palpable embracing of Social Darwinism. Americans believe deeply in the rugged individual, the power of the free market (that glorious invisible hand) along with the cleansing effect of competition, and the foundational principle of choice.
At the center of this belief culture, in fact, appears to be an unwavering faith in choice, a faith so powerful that it blinds most Americans to their repeated claims of also believing in a need for greater economic equity. Krishna Savani of Columbia Business School and Aneeta Rattan of Stanford University, in a study published forPsychological Science, have confronted these "contradictory opinions on wealth" beneath the trust in choice:
They surmised that one factor -- the concept of choice -- might be particularly influential in discussions about wealth. "Choice is a pervasive and highly valued concept in the U.S.," say the authors. If we assume that people make free choices, they theorized, while at the same time we