Social Darwinists took Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection and ran with them. Taking authentic ideas and distorting them to support the injustices bestowed upon the poor and lower classes. Hardworking citizens who did everything they could to support the well-being of their families were left to get by. Deemed “less fit” or “weaker” than those of the upper classes, skilled workers were left to perform “unskilled trades.” Meanwhile, the rich were seen as fittest and were treated as such. Poor people were seen working up to sixty hours a week and unemployed for one month a year. Despite their hard and seemingly endless work, they were still below the poverty line. While the poor suffered, the rich continued to accumulate more capital. While this seems unfair, Social Darwinists led the rich and the government to believe that, biologically, the rich were destined to be rich. They proposed the idea that the poor were destined to be poor, only to work for small wages due to their low level in the evolutionary pyramid. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Government aid programs were shunned, as sociologists and theorists believed that these aid programs would allow the poor to continue to breed more "inferior" individuals in the population. These mistaken beliefs would lead to the forced sterilization of those who were believed to have no contributions to make to society. Indeed, their offspring (who would not be born) would not be able to continue this negative behavior. Currently, only twenty-two states have laws allowing compulsory eugenic sterilization. While these laws exist, very few are enforced in modern America. These individuals who distorted the words of Charles Darwin firmly believed that one should not intervene to assist lesser beings. They religiously followed and believed the statement “survival of the fittest,” taking it literally. Anyone who wasn't "fit" shouldn't be reproducing at all, let alone living. It is worth noting that this saying, “survival of the fittest,” was not coined by Darwin, but rather by sociologist Herbert Spencer. Ultimately, their attempts to shun the poor and create a utopian society where the rich thrive were futile. While wealth disparities still exist today, finding a fair-paying job in the United States is not as difficult as it was a century ago. Hard-working men and women can support themselves and their families through work and government aid, which these theorists were against. More and more first-generation students are breaking this stigma, seemingly rising on the evolutionary totem presented by theorists. Although Darwin's theory of evolution is supported by science, it simply does not work as fast as social Darwinists believed. Simply because one group of individuals is less fortunate, the generations of men and women that follow are not destined to remain poor. In the case of Social Darwinism, fairness and equality prevailed. Social Darwinism is no longer an accepted way of thinking, as things should be in this world.