The simplest and most widely held definition of Social Darwinism is the application of concepts of biological evolution to social and moral development. More specifically, it is social evolution through "survival of the fittest" in a "struggle for existence" in which the strong prevail and the weak are defeated and disappear.…

Considers Arendt's argument that Eichmann was an example of how Nazi totalitarianism changed modern concepts of evil. Concludes that an amoral bureaucracy, whose goals transcended personal judgment, involvement, or responsibility, is part of the social environment which still constitutes a threat today. (AM)

Examines roles played by men and women in the French family from well before 1760 to the present. The author shows how changes in the mentalities of family and gender reflect changes in the other structures--social, political, economic, technological--without being mere ideological replicas of them. (RM)

Compares Robert Palmer's interpretation of the French Revolution with the Marxist and revisionist views. Stresses Palmer's theory that the French Revolution belongs to the same spiritual family as the American. Reports that Palmer saw the French Revolution as the climactic event in a series of similar upheavals that integrated liberal democracy…