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By the middle of the nineteenth century, a new form of denial achieved great influence, especially in the United States. The new doctrine, associated with the name of Herbert Spencer, was Social Darwinism. In economic life, as in biological development, the overriding rule was survival of the fittest. That phrase-"survival of the fittest"-came, in fact, not from Charles Darwin but from Spencer, and expressed his view of economic life. The elimination of the poor is nature's way of improving the race. The weak and unfortunate being extruded, the quality of the human family is thus strengthened.
19世纪中叶，一种新的解决方案产生了很大影响，尤其是在美国。这一学说与赫伯特·斯宾塞的名字联系在一起，这就是社会达尔文主义。在经济生活中，如同在生物进化过程中一样，主导的规律是适者生存。“适者生存”这个短语实际上并不出自查尔斯·达尔文，而是出自斯宾塞。斯宾塞表达了对经济生活的看法：穷人被淘汰是大自然人类进化的方式。由于弱者和不幸者被消除了，人类大家庭的素质因此得以提高。
One of the most notable American spokespersons of Social Darwinism was John D. Rockefeller-the first Rockefeller-who said in famous speech: "The American Beauty rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it. And so it is in economic life. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God."
美国最著名的社会达尔文进化论的代表人之一是约翰·D·洛克菲勒——第一个洛克菲勒。他在一次著名的演讲中说：“美国这朵玫瑰花以其华贵与芳香让观众倾倒赞不绝口。而她之所以能被培植出来，就是因为在早期其周围的花蕾被掐掉了。在经济生活中，情况亦是如此。这是自然规律和上帝的意志在起作用。”
In the course of the present century, however, Social D to be considered a bit too cruel. It declined in popularity, and references to it acquired a condemnatory tone. We passed on to the more amorphous denial of poverty associated with Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. They held that public assistance to the poor interfered with the effective operation of the economic system-that such assistance was inconsistent with the economic design that had come to serve most people very well. The notion that there is something economically damaging about helping the poor remains with us to this day as one of the ways by which we get them off our conscience.
然而在20世纪，人们认为社会学中的达尔文进化论有点过于残酷。它遭到了普遍的质疑，提及它时都带有谴责的口吻。接着我们步入解决方案比较杂乱的时代，它与卡尔文·柯立芝和赫伯特·胡佛有关。他们认为公众对穷人的帮助会干扰经济制度的有效运作，这种帮助与很好地服务于大多数人的经济体制不相符。直到今天，人们仍然持有这种观点，认为帮助穷人会对经济造成损失。借此理由，我们可以不为穷人的存在而内疚。
