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Darwin, artificial selection, and poverty: Contemporary implications of a forgotten argument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Luis Sanchez
Luis Sanchez*
Affiliation:
Research School of Social Sciences Australian National University St. Bribie Island, Queensland 4507 Australia luis.sanchez@anu.edu.au
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Abstract

This paper argues that the processes of evolutionary selection are becoming increasingly artificial, a trend that goes against the belief in a purely natural selection process claimed by Darwin's natural selection theory. Artificial selection is mentioned by Darwin, but it was ignored by Social Darwinists, and it is all but absent in neo-Darwinian thinking. This omission results in an underestimation of probable impacts of artificial selection upon assumed evolutionary processes, and has implications for the ideological uses of Darwin's language, particularly in relation to poverty and other social inequalities. The influence of artificial selection on genotypic and phenotypic adaptations arguably represents a substantial shift in the presumed path of evolution, a shift laden with both biological and political implications.

Keywords

Natural selectionartificial selectionevolutiongenetically modified organismspovertysocial constructionjustice
Type
Perspective
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 61 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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