"There is no possible definition of 'a poor man.' A pauper is a person who cannot earn his living; whose producing powers have fallen positively below his necessary consumption; who cannot ,therefore, pay his way. A human society needs the active co-operation and productive energy of every person in it. A man who is present as a consumer, yet who does not contribute either by land, labor, or capital to the work of society, is a burden. On no sound political theory ought such a person to share in the political power of the State. He drops out of the ranks of workers and producers. Society must support him. It accepts the burden, but the must be cancelled from the ranks of the rulers likewise. So much for the pauper. About him no more need be said. But he is not the' poor man.' The 'poor man' is an elastic term, under which any number of social fallacies may be hidden."—William Graham Sumner ,from What Social Classes Owe to Each Other, 1883 what is the response to the attitudes like those presented by Sumner?

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William Graham Sumners views as expressed in the excerpt from What Social Classes Owe to Each Other are reflective of social Darwinism and the laissez... View the full answer