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Can (and Should) We Construct an Evolutionary Psychological Theory of Institutions?
Author(s) -
Eastwood Jonathan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12150
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , sociology , positive economics , honor , perspective (graphical) , epistemology , social institution , core (optical fiber) , institution , social exchange theory , social science , economics , philosophy , materials science , artificial intelligence , computer science , composite material , programming language , operating system
This article considers the question of whether, as a number of scholars have suggested, we can (or should) develop a theory of institutions from the perspective of evolutionary psychology (EP), construed broadly. To do so, the article reviews EP's core explanatory strategy and the main claims that have been made by proponents of an EP institutional theory, focusing on arguments about (1) welfare states and (2) “honor cultures” and the institutions associated with them. On the one hand, the article argues, there are both logical and empirical problems with current efforts to develop EP theories of these institutional domains. On the other hand, sociology's relative absence from the development of such theories contributes to these problems, and sociologists can learn from EP. Above all, insights drawn from EP may help us to construct better accounts of various institutions’ micro‐foundations. To this end, collaboration and exchange between EP scholars and sociologists is called for, and some suggestions are made about how this might be done most fruitfully.