Towards a Reconsideration of Social Evolution: Symbiosis and Its Implications for Economics

The renewed interest in evolutionary theory among economists has given rise to an ambiguity about the meaning of social evolution. In fact, two versions of social evolution have emerged. Evolutionary holism characterized by the old institutional economics and symbiosis theory stress the role of cooperative relations in understanding evolution. This does not deny the role of competition. It merely asserts that competition both in the nature and society is bounded. In contrast, evolutionary atomism associated with the neo-Darwinian synthesis, sociobiology, and neo-institutionalism begins with the isolated individual. Evolutionary atomism does not deny cooperation; it merely reduces cooperation to individual choice as though the individual may choose not to cooperate. The underlying assumption is that competition among self-interested individuals is the source of cooperation and hence progress. The notion that cooperation among organisms is rife invites comparison between institutionalism and the symbiotic theory of evolution.