Social Darwinism: A philosophy articulated by Herbert Spencer (an analogy to the biological ideas of Charles Darwin) which argued for "the survival of the fittest" in the social world. The expectation was that "natural" social elites would evolve or be selected by free competiton in the marketplace. Dye and Zeigler argue that it was a defense of an emerging, ruthless ruling elite.

Paraphrase from: The Irony of Democracy