What Are You Going To Choose?

Professor Lucy Hartley

English 319
28 March 2007
By: Tyrone Schiff
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What are You Going to Choose?

The process of bettering oneself can take one of an infinite amount of paths to get

to its final location. During the 19th century, and in particular the year 1859, two prolific

books broached the idea of improvement via considerably different means. Samuel

Smiles, the author of Self-Help, argued that motivation and determination were core

components of individual progress. He placed much of the burden of success or failure on

the individual. His book worked to illustrate the industrious nature inherent to man and

the great success that can be enjoyed from hard work. To Smiles, it was a conscious,

personal decision that one made in order to better their lot. On the other hand, Charles

Darwin, the author of The Origin of Species, developed a new concept that turned out to

be quite radical for the timeframe in which he presented it. Darwin established the idea of

natural selection in which one’s environment would, over great periods of time, eliminate

those who did not coexist successfully with those surroundings. This concept espouses

that the fate of an individual’s achievement is entrenched in the harmony of the individual

and their environment. These views are strikingly similar in how they both promote

improvement. Smiles is far more proactive in his approach to improvement by focusing

on the individual, whereas, Darwin takes a slightly more passive approach relying on the

environment. Yet, it is clear if an individual chooses to adjust favorably to his or her own

environment then one can and will improve based on these adaptations. The reason that

this occurs is in order to weed out the weak from any population. Further, Smiles

illustrates how the choice in behavior of a few can spread almost like a virus, infecting all

around with a will to develop themselves. Darwin rather detaches the idea of choice from

the individual. The main question is to determine whether the actor is the individual or
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the environment. Answering this question has striking ramifications, as choice implies

freedom, whereas, reaction and adjustment imply coercion. Thus, this paper will reveal

that Smiles asserts choice as a means to improvement, while Darwin attributes

improvement as effectively adjusting to an environment.

Smiles believed very much in the worth of the individual. He put a great deal of

trust in people to find the will within themselves to work towards a better life and

generally improve themselves. Smiles depicts the fruits of one’s labor in saying, “Man

owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will, […]; and it is astonishing to

find how often results apparently impracticable are thus made possible. An intense

anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but the

precursors of the things which we are capable of performing” (149). Smiles makes it

clear that it is individual choice that promotes his or her own improvement. Additionally,

it is significant to notice the responsibility that Smiles places on the individual. He does

not point to potential obstacles that may keep one down such as class, but rather

advocates that the individual is in charge of their own improvement. This contrasts, in

part, to what Darwin suggests. Darwin attributes this improvement to minor differences

that build on each other from inherited qualities from parents:

Whatever the cause may be of each slight difference in the

offspring from their parents and a cause for each must exist

it is the steady accumulation, through natural selection, of

such differences, when beneficial to the individual, that

gives rise to all the more important modifications of

structure, by which the innumerable beings on the face of

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this earth are enabled to struggle with each other, and the

best adapted to survive. (139)

It is critical to notice the connection of Smiles’s means of improvement to Darwin’s

evolutionary theory of natural selection. Embedded within Darwin’s idea is this “slight

difference” that ultimately permits the organism to be able to survive. Smiles intersects

with Darwin on this front in providing his thematic maxim of, “where there is a will there

is a way” (151). Throughout the course of Self-Help, Smiles provides a myriad of

examples relating to choice that an individual makes to improve and how to further

oneself. Smiles book is the catalyst for human beings to find a way to advance, and

promotes the individual as an actor and entity that is autonomous.

Smiles wanted to go further than merely improve individuals; he sought to

improve the English nation. Smiles had a thorough recognition that national progress

equaled “the sum of individual industry, energy and uprightness […]” (20). Therefore,

Smiles held the belief that so long as he could affect and alter the choices made by

people, he could better the nation in general. Darwin maintains the belief that natural

selection is always at work and the small differences can be initially seen as unwanted

(47). This, in turn, relates to the motivated individuals that Smiles intends to mold and

wants so badly to fill the nation. A motivated populous is clearly a difference, and Darwin

suggests in the short run it may be resented. Smiles counters this point when he describes

the usage of a vaccination for the first time. Initially, the thought of a vaccine was met

with much antagonism and no one trusted it until, “Two ladies of title – Lady Ducie and

the Countess of Berkeley – to their honour be it remembered – had the courage to

vaccinate their children; and the prejudices of the day were at once broken through”
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(102). Smiles admits that the vaccine was disliked at first, which could be similar to a

newly motivated English society, but the individual made a conscious choice to use the

vaccine and reaped the benefits thereof. Darwin would rather attribute this usage to the

adjustment to one’s environment in which only the strong succeed.

At the core of it, Samuel Smiles was attempting to establish a new trend in

English society. He wanted this trend to be directed towards working hard and trying to

improve one’s own lot. Malcolm Gladwell’s, The Tipping Point, is a fantastic, modern

example of how people can choose to create sweeping change. At the same time,

however, there are also instances in the book that depict just how strong of an influence

one’s environment has on the situation.

Gladwell provides rules of epidemics or essentially how things “tip.” Smiles

approach of attributing the individual as the actor in control of his or her life is rooted in

“The Law of the Few” (20). To illustrate this law, Gladwell presents the example of Hush

Puppies. This shoe brand was on the verge of going out of business, until a couple young

“hipsters” from the East Village of New York City started to buy these shoes (Gladwell,

4). All of a sudden, the shoes were the next hottest thing. Hush Puppies were selling in

record numbers all over the country. The reason behind all of this is a result of those few

people in the East Village, who used, “energy and enthusiasm and personality to spread

the word about Hush Puppies […]” (22). Smiles would look favorably upon this analysis,

because it reveals that individuals are capable of spreading ideas and trends. Smiles

provided his readership with the trendsetters of a hard working society, which were the

many examples that he gave. Smiles would hope that similar to the success of Hush

Puppies catching on all over the country, the beliefs and ideas that he presents in Self-
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Help will catch on too as a result of individual choice.

Gladwell provides the “Power of Context” in support of Darwin, which illustrates

how people will adapt to their environments (140). The example given in this scenario is

crime, specifically on subways in New York City. During the 1980’s, New York City

subways were in the midst of a crime epidemic. The consultants that the city brought in to

work on the problem attributed the crime to the filth and graffiti that could be found on

most subway cars (Gladwell, 142). The city undertook a purification process of the

subway system, removing dirty cars and painting over the graffiti and making the whole

system appear more respectable. As a result of this, crime rates started to dramatically

dip. In short, “The Power of Context is an environmental argument. It says that behavior

is a function of social context,” which implies that one’s environmental factors are more

determinant in how subjects adjust and react to their surroundings (Gladwell, 150).

Darwin would champion this point as it depicts one’s environment as the critical actor

when it comes to the actions of individuals. The action is free from conscious choice and

it is rather merely a reaction to surroundings.

There are striking ramifications to these two schools of thought. R. J. Morris,

Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Edinburgh, provides

further analysis when it comes to the ideas presented by Samuel Smiles. Morris explains

that Smiles understood that man was a rational creature and would do anything to

enhance his or her own utility, “[…] each member of society being necessarily more

interested in his own happiness temporal as well as spiritual […] discovers or selects for

himself the best means of accomplishing [happiness]” (92). This assessment further

articulates the point that man is an individual that works and strives towards
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improvement. Additionally, it reveals how much Smiles believes in the ability of man to

be a conscious, independent thinker.

During this time in the Victorian Period there was an intense “fear for the loss of

individuality under the pressure of urban class society” (Morris, 91). Smiles used Self-

Help to try and alleviate some of this anxiety that seemed to be pent up within the

English culture in the mid-nineteenth century. Smiles was livid with the situation in

England at the time because of the “dangerous demagogues” who were leading a society

of uneducated people astray (Morris, 93). Smiles provided education as a means to level

the playing field. He felt as though, “Men must be given the means of forming their own

judgment” (Morris, 92). This concept of being autonomous and individual was central to

Smiles and Self-Help. Working towards a better society and English nation was truly

important to Smiles, and he believed this could be achieved through maintaining the

independence of the individual. Yet, at the same time this individualism had its harms

which are noted here by Smiles, “English society […] is no longer joined together by

mutual ideas and sympathies, but broken by a thousand opposite forces […] order of the

old sort is dead, and there is evidently a new order of things to adjust” (Morris, 100).

Smiles was taken aback by the apparent damage that he may have caused to English

society. Opposing forces is most definitely a repercussion of trying to spread a sense of

individuality. In effect, Smiles helped contribute to the recognition of what has become

known as social Darwinism.

In the process of Smiles promoting a sense of individuality, he also contributed to

the Darwinian theory of natural selection as it applies to human beings. Smiles wanted

people to improve themselves, and in order to get ahead there is a great deal of
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competition involved in doing so. To further understand this, Gloria Mc Connaughey of

Cornell University helps elaborate on Darwin’s ideas regarding evolution and social

Darwinism. She describes social Darwinism as, “the use of natural selection to justify the

more brutal aspects of […] society” (397). This essentially states that the idea presented

by Darwin of natural selection was not only confined to animals but open to humans as

well. What is somewhat disturbing about social Darwinism is the “brutal” nature that is

suggested.

Social Darwinism is rooted in an evolutionary context which means that it

espouses the notion of a society or population adjusting to environmental cues. Darwin

agrees with this notion when he says, “It has always appeared to me more satisfactory to

look at the immense amount of pain and suffering in the world as the inevitable result of

the natural sequence of events […]” (Mc Connaughey, 402). Ultimately, this excerpt

stands to reason that the environment is seen as the actor in Darwin’s perspective.

The reason that this competition ensues is the result of members of a society or

nations of the world constantly comparing themselves to one another. This idea is

referred to as context dependence and was established by Anette Frank who wrote her

PhD dissertation on this idea at the University of Stuttgart (Frank). Context dependence

means that an individual will never be happy unless they acquire more material worth or

possess a better socioeconomic standing than those that surround him or her (Frank). In

1859 England, Smiles catapulted this idea of context dependence into the lower class in

English society by spurring them on by providing countless examples of wealthy,

impressive people. Within the upper class, Self-Help took the role of a comparative

device that prompted competition amongst them.

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This is not to say that social Darwinism occurred without any knowledge from the

public. Gregory Claeys, professor of the history of political thought at Royal Holloway at

the University of London, helps to demonstrate that social Darwinism was indeed

prominent and conspicuous within society. Claeys explains that the idea of the “survival

of the fittest” was quite commonplace by 1859. In general, human beings have always

been aware and conscious of social Darwinism, but Smiles and Darwin just worked to

bring it to the forefront of the populace. During the mid-Victorian period, the “division

between idle and industrious, provident and profligate, was crucial […] to the self

identity of the age” (Claeys, 235). This portion in Victorian time was dictated by the ideas

that Smiles and Darwin proposed. Individuals worked to consciously improve themselves

in order to survive.

While it is interesting to see how the ideas of Smiles inadvertently contributed to

the rise of social Darwinism, it is critical to make the distinction that Smiles had faith in

individuals to deliberately make the decision of improving themselves, whereas Darwin

just saw improvement as reactionary to one’s environment. Social Darwinism is

staunchly against the concept that decisions are made by the individual because he or she

has a choice. Yet, choice is an extremely important factor when it comes to happiness and

bettering oneself. Psychological experiments have shown over and over again just how

critical the concept of having freedom in a situation is to the overall sense of happiness

(Cassel, 76). Smiles recognizes just how important this notion of freedom is by

invigorating the masses in trying to get them to follow what is in their hearts and not be

kept down by class issues or society. Smiles knows that there is an infectious trend that

can result from a population redirecting their energies towards improving themselves.
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This is the point at which Smiles and Darwin begin to overlap. They do not present the

same idea; they merely depict a cause and effect relationship. In theory, Smiles’s

readership will become motivated to advance themselves, but this will also promote

intense competition amongst individuals which leads into social Darwinism. Social

Darwinism is the conglomeration of Darwin’s theories of evolution that he presented in

his book but merely placed in a human realm. Social Darwinism advocates that our

actions are dependent on the context or environment in which one is placed, so

consciousness and freedom is essentially eliminated. This analysis ends tragically. If the

choice and freedom, which promote happiness, proposed by Smiles unavoidably causes

the effect of social Darwinism, which by definition removes freedoms, the advent of a

happy and fulfilled life becomes inconceivable. Though this conclusion may seem dire, it

is awe-inspiring to consider that Smiles and Darwin were capable of such sweeping

change. Both books offered a fresh and new perspective that society was thirsting, and

there was a great deal of knowledge and guidance that came from them.

Bibliography

Cassel, Russell N. “Psychological Aspects of Happiness.” Peabody Journal of Education

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32.2 (1954): 73-82.

Claeys, Gregory. “The ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and the Origins of Social Darwinism.”

Journal of the History of Ideas 61.2 (2000): 223-240.

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species. New York: Oxford World Classics, 1996.

Frank, Anette. 1996. Context Dependence in Modal Constructions. Ph.D. thesis,

University of Stuttgart. http://www.dfki.de/~frank/papers/header.ps.gz.

Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2002.

Mc Connaughey, Gloria. “Darwin and Social Darwinism.” Osiris 9 (1950): 397-412.

Morris, R.J. “Samuel Smiles and the Genesis of Self-Help; the Retreat to a Petit

Bourgeois Utopia.” The Historical Journal 24.1 (1981): 89-109.

Smiles, Samuel. Self-Help. New York: The Penguin Business Library, 1986.