The Influence of Social Evolution Theory in J. A. Hobsonʼs Theory of Imperialism

Abstract

John Atkinson Hobson, the leading theorist of the New Liberalism, is known as a sharp critic of imperialism. As is well known, the formative period of his social and political thought coin-cided with the heyday of social evolution theory. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain to what extent his theory of imperialism was under the influence of that theory. In his search for a remedy for the diseases of modern industrial societies, which were under the dominion of machine production and the law of diminishing returns, he proposed to substitute qualitative for quantitative methods of consump-tion. Thus, he adopted a qualitative view of social progress, insisting that by improving the charac-ter of consumption, the law of diminishing re-turns could be defeated, whereas the biological defenders of imperialism, such as Benjamin Kidd and Karl Pearson, maintained a quantitative view of progress, assuming that social effi-ciency and racial success were to be measured in square miles of territory within the empire. While claiming that the struggle for exist-ence within a society should be suspended for such a society to be able to compete successfully with another society, Pearson argued that the primitive struggle for physical existence was the best method for securing progress for the society of nations, which could be called humanity. In refuting Pearsonʼs view of progress, Hob-son asked why such a view, which claimed to put down the struggle for life among individuals and enlarge the area of social internal peace un-til it covered a whole nation, should not claim to extend its mode of progress to the complete so-ciety of the human race. JEL classification numbers: B 14, B 15.