Herbert Spencer and Social Theory

Herbert Spencer's name is recalled today for his expression 'survival of the fittest', but the range and originality of his ideas on evolution and the nature of social and individual life are not generally familiar. His many essays and his ten-volume System of Synthetic Philosophy furnished cutting-edge thought for the second half of the nineteenth century. This book argues that he still deserves a place at the table reserved for leaders in nineteenth-century science and science and political thought. He had a world-wide influence well into the twentieth century on the sciences, liberal politics and radical movements, the arts and popular thought. Spencer made no strong division between the study of man and the study of life in general, and in today's 'Darwinian' world a careful and comprehensive reappraisal of both the difficulties and the potential relevance of Spencer's thought is overdue and to be welcomed.

John Offer is Professor of Social Theory and Policy, University of Ulster, UK.  He has published extensively on Spencer and aspects of the history of social policy. His previous books include An Intellectual History of British Social Policy,Herbert Spencer: Critical Assessments and Social Workers, the Community and Social Interaction.