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Reflections on the implications of evolutionary psychology for the theory of institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2012

JONATHAN EASTWOOD
JONATHAN EASTWOOD*
Affiliation:
Sociology and Anthropology, Washington and Lee University, Newcomb Hall 225, Lexington, VA 24450, USA
*
*Email: eastwoodj@wlu.edu
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Abstract:

In this paper I consider the implications of work in evolutionary psychology for institutional analysis. I respond to Pascal Boyer and Michael Bang Petersen (‘The Naturalness of (Many) Social Institutions: Evolved Cognition as their Foundation’; 2012), who put forward a programmatic statement in this connection. I argue that their discussion overstates the explanatory power of evolutionary psychology and does not take sufficient account of what we already know about institutions. At the same time, I suggest that they, and the empirical work upon which they draw, make an important contribution by helping us to establish more clearly the boundary conditions of institutional analysis. I call for ongoing cooperation and for the establishment of a unified research tradition that brings together both evolutionary psychology and institutionalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 537 - 550
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2012

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