Social Darwinism An idea that the future would be characterized by "the survival of the fittest was once introduced by Herbert Spencer. Spencer's idea can be linked to natural scientist Charles Darin's theory of evolution. Unlike Darwin, Spencer's idea is referring to society rather than nature. Today Spencer's idea is known as Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism was built on the principle that success would come to the most intelligent, ambitious, and productive people, who quite properly advanced their interests at the expense of the less able. Spencer endorsed this idea because he believed that this proce