<P> Social Darwinism has many definitions, and some of them are incompatible with each other . As such, social Darwinism has been criticized for being an inconsistent philosophy, which does not lead to any clear political conclusions . For example, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics states: </P> <P> Part of the difficulty in establishing sensible and consistent usage is that commitment to the biology of natural selection and to' survival of the fittest' entailed nothing uniform either for sociological method or for political doctrine . A' social Darwinist' could just as well be a defender of laissez - faire as a defender of state socialism, just as much an imperialist as a domestic eugenist . </P> <P> The term "Social Darwinism" has rarely been used by advocates of the supposed ideologies or ideas; instead it has almost always been used pejoratively by its opponents . The term draws upon the common use of the term Darwinism, which has been used to describe a range of evolutionary views, but in the late 19th century was applied more specifically to natural selection as first advanced by Charles Darwin to explain speciation in populations of organisms . The process includes competition between individuals for limited resources, popularly but inaccurately described by the phrase "survival of the fittest", a term coined by sociologist Herbert Spencer . </P> <P> Creationists have often maintained that Social Darwinism--leading to policies designed to reward the most competitive--is a logical consequence of "Darwinism" (the theory of natural selection in biology). Biologists and historians have stated that this is a fallacy of appeal to nature and should not be taken to imply that this phenomenon ought to be used as a moral guide in human society . While there are historical links between the popularization of Darwin's theory and forms of social Darwinism, social Darwinism is not a necessary consequence of the principles of biological evolution . </P>

In western states which social group was most connected to the spread of enlightenment ideas