The application to the economic and social spheres of ideas that blend evolutionary theory with ideas of progress is the heart of the free-market ideology that has been promoted by right-wing think tanks for some 60 years. No surprise that they find a welcome in this government.
Of course, these ideas are deeply dodgy. While evolution involves adaptation to variable environmental pressures that have have nothing to do with morality, free-market evolutionism replaces this with the idea of evolution as decontextualised continuous improvement.
As such, these dogmas of progressive evolution owe more to Herbert Spencer, originator of the term 'survival of the fittest', than they do to Charles Darwin. They seek to improve the 'fitness' of individuals, firms & society, without concerning themselves what that fitness is for
The idea of evolution as progress is intimately linked with the anthropocentric & technocentric worldviews at the heart of 'modernity', that are deeply problematic when it comes to tackling environmental degradation & climate change.
Ideas of evolution as progress are central to political, economic and wider discourses that have shaped the world we live in, but are mostly hidden. They represent an ideological prison from which we must break free if we are to address the most pressing problems we face today.
Evolution-as-progress tells us that the more we distance ourselves from nature, the better we are. It tells us progress is driven by technology and innovation, and that the fruits of these are pretty much by definition good.
The resulting anthropocentric & technocentric worldviews push us to see technology and growth (also part of progress) as the solution to all our problems, & calls for better relations with nature as a step backwards.
Elevated above nature, we don't consider our impact on it, because we deny our dependence on it. As a result, we externalise and ignore impacts & pretend the economy is separate from the natural resources on which it ultimately depends.
As the primary drivers of technological and by extension societal and moral progress, fossil fuels are framed as inherently virtuous, & opponents of fossil fuels as enemies of progress.
This framing has been used by fossil fuel companies in the US for decades. Last month, the American Petroleum Institute launched a PR campaign with the headline "Energy for Progress."
And of course in the social sphere, those left behind by progress are unfortunate by necessary collateral damage at best; hopeless cases that need to be removed at worst. This view has framed everything from colonial extermination to eugenics & social policy.
