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Do institutions evolve like material technologies?

Catherine Molho1, Jorge Peña2, Manvir Singh3

  • 1Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole, France; Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, France.

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Social technologies like norms and institutions evolve slower than material technologies due to constraints in variation and selection. Understanding their cultural evolution is key to human cooperation.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Social sciences
  • Evolutionary economics
  • Cultural evolution

Background:

  • Norms and institutions facilitate large-scale human cooperation by shaping expectations and incentives.
  • Social technologies, like material technologies, address instrumental needs and solve problems.
  • The evolutionary dynamics of social versus material technologies are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the evolutionary trajectories of social and material technologies.
  • To identify constraints affecting the evolution of norms and institutions.
  • To explore methods for studying the cultural evolution of social technologies.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of evidence on technological and social evolution.
  • Analysis of constraints in variation and selection processes for social technologies.
  • Review of research on social transmission and cultural evolution of norms and institutions.

Main Results:

  • Social technologies, including norms and institutions, exhibit constraints in generating variation and selecting beneficial variants compared to material technologies.
  • The frequency-dependent nature of social technologies limits the speed and breadth of their evolution.
  • Existing research on social transmission provides a foundation for studying institutional and normative evolution.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of norms and institutions is constrained, impacting the pace and scope of societal change.
  • Further research, particularly experimental paradigms, is needed to understand the cultural evolution of social technologies.
  • Understanding these evolutionary constraints is crucial for advancing theories of human cooperation.