Economists on Darwin's theory of social evolution and human behaviour

Arbeitspapier

The purpose of this article is to analyse the way economists interested in social and economic evolution cite, mention or refer to Darwin. We focus on the attitude of economists towards Darwin's theory of social evolution - an issue he considered as central to his theory. We show that economists refer to and mention Darwin as a biologist and neglect or ignore his theory of social and cultural evolution. Three types of reference are identified: first, economists view and quote Darwin as having borrowed concepts from classical political economists, Malthus and Smith. Darwin is then mentioned to emphasize the existence of economic theories of social evolution. Second, economists refer to and cite Darwin from the perspective of the use of biological concepts in social sciences. Darwin's biological theories are then equated with those of Spencer. From these two perspectives, Darwin's theory of social evolution is ignored and Darwin considered as a biologist exclusively. Third, economists acknowledge the existence of Darwin's general (biological and social) theory of evolution. Darwin is then considered and quoted as a biologist and a social evolutionist.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Papers on Economics and Evolution ; No. 0521

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists ; Current Heterodox Approaches: Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
• Subject: Darwin ; social evolution ; evolutionary economics ; bioeconomics ; Bioökonomik ; Evolutionsökonomik ; Dogmengeschichte

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Marciano, Alain
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Max Planck Institute of Economics
• (where): Jena
• (when): 2005

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/31799
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET