Benjamin Kidd
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Kidd was a British
sociologist
. He entered the British
civil service
and did not become generally known until the publication of an essay, Social Evolution
, in 1894. This work passed through several editions and was translated into German
(1895), Swedish
(1895), French
(1896), Russian
(1897), Italian
(1898), Chinese
(1899), Czech
(1900), Danish
(1900), and Arabic
(1913).
Kidd's major theme, set out in Social Evolution
and continued in his later works, is that religion makes sense when seen as what he calls a 'supra-rational sanction' for our behaviour, which acts in the interest of survival of the group, and the yet-to-be-born members of the group, and is necessarily in conflict with our basic human instincts which act in favour of the individual in his lifetime, and also with our reason, which we tend to apply short-sightedly. Thus, while he is an evolutionist, Kidd proposed that religion, a feature of so many past and present societies, is probably essential to the evolutionary survival of any society.
He finds flaws in the theories of both Herbert Spencer
, and Karl Marx
, neither of which give due recognition to the fact that continuing struggle is an essential condition for any organism to progress rather than degenerate under the influence of Darwinian natural selection. He sees Christianity
as the major factor in the success of the Western world
, and the Reformation
in particular as the event that brought about a 'softening' of character in the population, with greater sensitivity to the suffering of others as exemplified by Jesus Christ. This change in character, with increased empathy, led, he claims, to greater equality of opportunity and the weakening of the will of the ruling classes to continue unfair practices like slavery. Those countries that continued the Roman Catholic tradition used it to sanction the divine right of kings
and domination by the ruling class.
He also rejects socialism, predicting that in future western societies there will be greater opportunity for all which will maximise the scope for creativity and competition among the masses, thus shifting the struggle for survival somewhat from the group as a whole to the individual. Socialism, he claimed, sought to end the struggle for survival, which could only result in a stagnant society that would inevitably degenerate because of an increase in the 'underclass' or fall victim to competition with more vigorous societies.
, Ireland
on September 9, 1858. His father, also Benjamin, was a constable with the Royal Irish Constabulary
. Following a poor education, Benjamin Junior entered the Inland Revenue
Department (located at Somerset House
) of the Civil Service
in a minor capacity in 1877. He worked in obscurity there for seventeen years. However, his spare time was devoted to study and in 1894 his first work was published. It was entitled “Social Evolution” and it brought him financial success and international fame. Following his success, he gained a number of friends interested in sociology and Darwinian theory, including Grant Allen
, William Clarke (1852–1901), William Thomas Stead
, and John Saxon Mills. The success of his work allowed Benjamin to retire from the Civil Service and in 1898 he travelled extensively throughout America and Canada and in 1902 he visited South Africa. These travels resulted in a series of articles commissioned by The Times and later published under the title “The Control of the Tropics”.
He married Emma Isabel Perry, of Weston-Super-Mare
in 1887. They had three sons. He died of heart disease, at Croydon
, England on October 2, 1916.
and Herbert Spencer
(mostly Spencer) but criticized both. He granted to the marxists that the members of the ruling class were not superior. He believed that the ruling families were degenerating so that new rulers had to be recruited from below. He was therefore against privileges. He denied the innate intellectual superiority of the white race, which he ascribed to social heritage, by which he meant accumulated knowledge. On the other hand he agreed with the racists that the English race was superior when it came to "social efficiency", by which he meant the ability to organize and to suppress egoistic instincts to the benefit of the community and the future. Kidd attributed this altruism to the religious instinct.
. Under his pseudonym Hugh Mortimer Cecil he published in 1897 the book Pseudo-philosophy at the End of the Nineteenth Century. An irrationalist trio: Kidd-Drummond-Balfour. In it he criticizes in particular B.Kidd's notion of progress and the teleological content of his model of social evolution as pseudoscience.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. He entered the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
and did not become generally known until the publication of an essay, Social Evolution
Social Evolution
Social Evolution is the title of an essay by Benjamin Kidd, which became available as a book published by Macmillan and co London in 1894. In it, Kidd discusses the basis for society as an evolving phenomenon, with reference to past societies, the important developments of his own period of...
, in 1894. This work passed through several editions and was translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(1895), Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
(1895), French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(1896), Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
(1897), Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(1898), Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
(1899), Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
(1900), Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
(1900), and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
(1913).
Kidd's major theme, set out in Social Evolution
Social Evolution
Social Evolution is the title of an essay by Benjamin Kidd, which became available as a book published by Macmillan and co London in 1894. In it, Kidd discusses the basis for society as an evolving phenomenon, with reference to past societies, the important developments of his own period of...
and continued in his later works, is that religion makes sense when seen as what he calls a 'supra-rational sanction' for our behaviour, which acts in the interest of survival of the group, and the yet-to-be-born members of the group, and is necessarily in conflict with our basic human instincts which act in favour of the individual in his lifetime, and also with our reason, which we tend to apply short-sightedly. Thus, while he is an evolutionist, Kidd proposed that religion, a feature of so many past and present societies, is probably essential to the evolutionary survival of any society.
He finds flaws in the theories of both Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
, and Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, neither of which give due recognition to the fact that continuing struggle is an essential condition for any organism to progress rather than degenerate under the influence of Darwinian natural selection. He sees Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
as the major factor in the success of the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
, and the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in particular as the event that brought about a 'softening' of character in the population, with greater sensitivity to the suffering of others as exemplified by Jesus Christ. This change in character, with increased empathy, led, he claims, to greater equality of opportunity and the weakening of the will of the ruling classes to continue unfair practices like slavery. Those countries that continued the Roman Catholic tradition used it to sanction the divine right of kings
Divine Right of Kings
The divine right of kings or divine-right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God...
and domination by the ruling class.
He also rejects socialism, predicting that in future western societies there will be greater opportunity for all which will maximise the scope for creativity and competition among the masses, thus shifting the struggle for survival somewhat from the group as a whole to the individual. Socialism, he claimed, sought to end the struggle for survival, which could only result in a stagnant society that would inevitably degenerate because of an increase in the 'underclass' or fall victim to competition with more vigorous societies.
Biography
Benjamin Kidd was born in County ClareCounty Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
on September 9, 1858. His father, also Benjamin, was a constable with the Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
. Following a poor education, Benjamin Junior entered the Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
Department (located at Somerset House
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...
) of the Civil Service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
in a minor capacity in 1877. He worked in obscurity there for seventeen years. However, his spare time was devoted to study and in 1894 his first work was published. It was entitled “Social Evolution” and it brought him financial success and international fame. Following his success, he gained a number of friends interested in sociology and Darwinian theory, including Grant Allen
Grant Allen
Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen was a science writer, author and novelist, and a successful upholder of the theory of evolution.-Biography:...
, William Clarke (1852–1901), William Thomas Stead
William Thomas Stead
William Thomas Stead was an English journalist and editor who, as one of the early pioneers of investigative journalism, became one of the most controversial figures of the Victorian era. His 'New Journalism' paved the way for today's tabloid press...
, and John Saxon Mills. The success of his work allowed Benjamin to retire from the Civil Service and in 1898 he travelled extensively throughout America and Canada and in 1902 he visited South Africa. These travels resulted in a series of articles commissioned by The Times and later published under the title “The Control of the Tropics”.
He married Emma Isabel Perry, of Weston-Super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
in 1887. They had three sons. He died of heart disease, at Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, England on October 2, 1916.
Influences
Benjamin Kidd was inspired by both Karl MarxKarl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
(mostly Spencer) but criticized both. He granted to the marxists that the members of the ruling class were not superior. He believed that the ruling families were degenerating so that new rulers had to be recruited from below. He was therefore against privileges. He denied the innate intellectual superiority of the white race, which he ascribed to social heritage, by which he meant accumulated knowledge. On the other hand he agreed with the racists that the English race was superior when it came to "social efficiency", by which he meant the ability to organize and to suppress egoistic instincts to the benefit of the community and the future. Kidd attributed this altruism to the religious instinct.
Critics
A vehement critic of Benjamin Kidd's ideas about social evolution was the freethinker and music critic Ernest NewmanErnest Newman
Ernest Newman was an English music critic and musicologist. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His style of criticism, aiming at intellectual objectivity in contrast to the more subjective...
. Under his pseudonym Hugh Mortimer Cecil he published in 1897 the book Pseudo-philosophy at the End of the Nineteenth Century. An irrationalist trio: Kidd-Drummond-Balfour. In it he criticizes in particular B.Kidd's notion of progress and the teleological content of his model of social evolution as pseudoscience.
Works
- Social Evolution (1894) Macmillan (reissued by Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 2009; ISBN 9781108004527) - Control of the Tropics (1898)
- Principles of Western Civilization (1902; Spanish translation, 1903)
- Herbert SpencerHerbert SpencerHerbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
and After (1908) - Two Principal Laws of Sociology (1909)
- The Science of Power (1918)