Main Points of "Social Progress and the Rivalry of the Races" by Benjamin Kidd

• · Progress is a necessity, and within progress there is constant rivalry/competition between living things in the world

• · Because of the stress of nature, there is a constant improvement that continuously leads to higher and better forms of life

• · The “features of Western civilization which are most distinctive and characteristic, and of which we are most proud, are almost as disastrous in their effects as the evils of which complaint is so often made.”

• · With the individuals who have all of the better qualities than those who died out, but also the “conflict [is] sternest, the nervous friction [is] greatest, and the stress [is] severest.”

• · We need to look back honestly on the vices of our civilization in order to truly understand the current social problems