英语论文网

s and for greater equality between thesexes his reading and comments in relation to a Social Darwinian view of womenmust be seen as placing him in the middle ground. In this sense Ellis arguedthat that both men and women were equal but that they were equal inrespectively complementary social spheres. Thus while evolution may be aboutthe survival of the fittest, what counted as the fittest between men and womendepended on the roles and functions which were in question, (Ellis, 1894). Thiscan be seen to share similar thoughts to the works of Darwin and Spencer.However Ellis did admit that social structures as they existed placed moreemphasis and celebrated more the social spheres in which men were the fitterwhich thus led to false inequities being developed in that women weresubordinated as the social spheres which they excelled in were subordinatedwithin the social structures of the time. Thus for Ellis a re-evaluation of thepriorities for society were necessary, while Ellis acknowledged that womencould compete oftentimes successfully in the social spheres dominated by men hefelt that this was counterproductive and against women's natures in a sense bynot allowing them to use their full potentials, (Ellis, 1933).
 
While Ellisoccupies a curious middle ground the work of Gamble can be seen as particularlyrepresentative of the coalescing of feminist praxis with the evolutionary ideaspresented by Darwin. Gamble indeed can be seen to have hit upon one of the keyelements which later feminists and biologists have concentrated upon as one ofthe critical weaknesses in Social Darwinism and generally Darwinian considerationsof the relationship between the sexes, (Hawkins, 1997). Indeed it was not thatGamble invented anything new but rather that she interpreted a key observationwithin Darwin's work and highlighted this observation which for Darwin himselfhe had ignored and had thus been an almost invisible feature of his theorisingon evolution. This was the blatantly simple observation that in reproductivematters it is the female that chooses whom to mate as males of a speciescompete amongst themselves for the female's choice of reproductive partner,(Gamble, 1894).
 
Gamble continuesfurther by suggesting that one of the critical problems within modern societiesin terms of injustice and inequitable treatment of women is not that the lawsof evolution are working correctly but that they are impeded from doing so bysocial structures implemented as result primarily of capitalist concepts. Inparticular the development of private property and the patriarchal need toensure property remained in the hands of first born males led to the impositionof social structures which degraded the egalitarian position of women withinmore primitive hunter gatherer societies. For Gamble then the return andreinforcement of the natural operation of the sexual selection would in turnforce again a more equitable position for women to exist and also returnhumanity in general to a more natural and egalitarian position, (Gamble, 1894).
 
Conclusion
 
This selection ofwriters has highlighted some of the fundamental tensions within Social Darwinian thought concerning society and in particular on the relative rolesand relationships between the sexes. It has illustrated also the importantinfluences which social and cultural elements have on the theory and in particularon the interpretations m本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。