Originally Posted by Bostonian
Social Darwinism is a pejorative name for a political philosophy, coined by its opponents. To what extent SES and IQ are correlated is a scientific question. I don't think you should use "Social Darwinism" to describe informed views about science. I can think of a poster whose views about IQ overlap considerably with mine but whose politics are very different.

You can believe that the poor are poor largely because of their genes and
(1) Support anti-poverty programs because poverty is not their fault.
(2) Oppose anti-poverty program for Social Darwinist reasons.

(3) You can oppose Social Darwinism based on the well-documented flaws in the "science."