Please limit your responses to relevant discussions about evolutionary biology. I would give a low rating to anyone advocating eugenics, suggesting that we stop helping the poor, or trying to convince people that forced sterilization is a good idea.
Absolutely it does apply but not in the way we think it logically should. From an evolutionary standpoint those people having more children are actually evolutionarily ahead of the curve. They may have a higher death rate but they have a higher birth rate that more than compensates. From a science standpoint it is those who successfully continue their genetic strands down through the generations that are “more fit”. Think about the haves and the have-nots, if there are more have-nots they will eventually take over the haves. It is just a matter of time. And while we may not like the fact that the “fit” portion of the population is less educated, we do our best to educate everyone. In the same way there were race lines that were drawn, there are class lines that are drawn, but those lines get crossed all the time in the melting pot. Eventually it should level out. (At least in theory.)
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Natural selection still applies, but it’s harder to see, because we have cultural differences that disguise it. More people who may have been taken out of the gene pool in childhood (I’m thinking of genetic diseases or abnormalities that may show up in childhood - heart defects are one example) are able to receive treatment and are thus able to make it to reproducing ages and can pass along their genes to the next generation. In societies where that healthcare is not available, those genes are not passed on and would eventually be taken out of that society. This would be natural selection at work.
I’m not sure why you think that wealthy and educated people having fewer kids is the result of some sort of natural selection. 1) How did you come to this conclusion and where did you find it? 2) This is also cultural, not natural. Don’t you think perhaps that the wealthy and educated know better the consequences of unprotected sex, and are also able to purchase birth control means? Or that in other (poorer) cultures, having many children is important so that they may be able to support larger extended families or elderly parents in the future? I don’t see how your wealthy/educated comments are relevant.