Transcript SOC 8311 Basic Social Statistics

EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMICS &
ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
Can biological evolutionary principles be adapted or modified to explain
the origins and proliferation of new organizational and market forms?
• Is social evolution more a metaphor or an explanatory
theory?
• Darwinian inheritance or Lackmarckian acquired traits?
• What social analogies to core biological concepts: genes
species (org’l form), population, inheritance, generation?
What alternatives to neoclassical economics
principles might socially construct a sustainable
economy on a planet with finite nonrenewable
resources and a fragile ecosystem?
Monkey’s Uncle
Social evolution is rooted in the biological theory of evolution
Alfred Wallace and Charles
Darwin explained continuously
emerging novel biological forms
or attributes through population
interactions with environments.
Evolutionary theory accounts
for the historical genealogies of
proliferating, divergent species.
Randomness of evolutionary paths - no progress toward an end-goal
(teleology): the blind watchmaker & man is not the “Crown of Creation”
Instead, developments are recurrent, cumulative, probabilistic patterns
with unpredictable paths (yet open to post facto understanding)
Core Bio-Evolution Concepts
Population: Organisms that share a common gene pool
(Speciesdf = actually or potentially interbreeding organisms)
Variation: Modifications of forms are produced by chance via
mutations, genetic coding errors of individual organisms
Natural Selection: Reproduction & survival of organisms
whose heritable traits are better suited to existing
environmental conditions
Retention: Persistence within a population of the selected
variation(s) over successive generations
“Descent with modification” (Darwin): parents transfer their
genetically altered & selected traits to their offspring
Inheritance involves transfer of modified genetic codes, by not of
individually acquired attributes (a.ka. Lamarckian evolution)
What are org’l evolution equivalents to biological concepts?
Species Adapt to Fit Niches
Speciation: new populations of reproducing organisms capture scarce
niche resources (“struggle for existence” within & between species)
Ecological Niche: environmental habit where a species lives and its
functions within that biotic community (e.g., predator, prey)
Niche competition: Species struggle to adapt to conditions within
local environments; but, only one species can occupy a given niche
Darwin observed finches’ beaks modified to fit Galapagos Islands’ plants
Phenotype (outward physical traits) retained
because of adaptive advantages enjoyed by
individuals with superior survival and reproduction
• Alpha gorillas acquire more mates than others
• Faster cheetahs survive to reproduce their genes
Genotype (internal inheritable info: the DNA code)
retained when a phenotype survives encounters
within its niche environment
Smooth or Jerky?
Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay
Gould (1972) proposed a punctuated
equilibrium theory of evolutionary
rates. Evolutionary changes occur in
relatively short bursts (millennia),
interspersed with long periods of
comparative stasis (millions of years).
They attacked phyletic gradualism, the dominant idea of continually changing
organisms, small degrees of adaptation to fit the environment. Fossil records
show few intermediate forms, implying that many species change very little
after their initial appearance. Many new species can emerge quickly after mass
extinctions, such as the Yucatan asteroid collision that killed off most of the
dinosaurs, opening diverse ecological niches for mammal species to populate.
Just horsin’ around…
Sociocultural Evolution
After Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), social scientists tried
to apply biological principles to explain sociocultural evolution
“Social Darwinism” ideology asserted that the fittest races & cultures
inevitably dominate, thus justifying 19th c. Euro-American imperialism
Herbert Spencer’s Larmarckian evolution posited a slow,
steady progress toward equilibrium as individuals changed
their habits, eventually achieving perfect adaptation. He
popularized the notorious phrase “survival of the fittest.”
Theorists depicted increasingly advanced societies &
cultures, typically because of technological innovations
• Morgan & Tylor: savagery, barbarism, civilization
• Marx: ancient, feudal, capitalist, socialist-communist
• Lenski: hunter-gatherer, horticultural, agrarian, industrial
Continuity with sociobiology & evolutionary psychology (Wilson; Dawkins)
Do “selfish genes” determine all human action, culture, morality?
Variation-Selection-Retention
Social evolutionary theory must identify variation-selectionretention mechanisms creating and spreading new forms
Environmental conditions are sources of variation, constraining
emergence of new org’l & market forms & selection for survival
• Technology is a major driving force creating macroeconomic
growth (capital intensity, real wages) and the emergence of new
markets for selling technological products & services
• Innovations create new niches for firms to enter & exploit;
Businesses are technology carriers by applying science (patents)
Give examples of selection mechanisms to choose among variations:
• Market profit is primary main selection mechanism for
competitive firms; economic markets weed out the inefficient firms
• Professional judgments & political processes shape the selection
of other org’l forms (nonprofit, public, voluntary, SMO)
Organizational Genetics
Org’l genetics emphasizes transmissible & communicable
characteristic traits selected by environmental conditions
Bill McKelvey & Howard Aldrich (1982; 1983)
proposed a schema to classify organizational
forms by their dominant “comps” (competence
elements). Populations are polythetic clusters
of organizations with similar dominant comps
that are transferable among org’l members.
Comps: basic knowledge and skills, carried in individual
minds, transmitted via communication & personnel exchanges
with other organizations
Technologies, procedural guidelines, patents, job descriptions,
premiums, determined prescriptions
Evolutionary change involves new (re)combinations of dominant comps,
selected at the organizational population level
Are comps org’l analogs to biological genes? Does “compool” = genotype?
Routines as Genes
Richard Nelson & Sidney Winter (1982) developed an evolutionary
economics theory using computer simulations of industry growth.
Evolution produces monopoly: firms are selected
because differing profit rates yield varied growth.
But, entry of new firms into industry restrains
monopoly, as can innovation-imitation processes
that increase productivity variation among firms.
Org’l routines a major source of genetic variation.
Routines: formal and tacit rules or capabilities internal to an
organization that affect its activities & productivity
• Standard operating routines governing existing resource stocks
• Investment routines responding to changing profits, growth
• Search routines for innovative technologies (R&D)
Is routine is equivalent to gene, but org analogous to species phenotype?
Environmental Economics
Environmental economists concerned about ecosystem protection &
conservation often clash with neoclassical economics principles.
Green economists argue that, in the very long run,
resources are not limitless. Man-made capital
cannot substitute for natural capital to provide raw
materials, energy resources, food & biodiversity,
sinks for air & water pollution, climate regulation.
New principles must be developed to create a
sustainable economy within our finite biosphere.
1.
Limit resource use rates to levels of waste
that the ecosystem can absorb
2.
Exploit renewable resources to rates not
exceeding ecosystem’s regeneration
3.
Deplete nonrenewable resources at rates
that don’t exceed the development of
renewable substitutes
Self-Interest Runs Amok
Garrett Hardin’s (1968) “Tragedy of the Commons” is a classic example
of the inability of man-made capital to substitute for natural capital.
Any resource commons – such as public pasture or
an ocean fishery – is prone to suboptimal collective
outcomes resulting from individuals’ rational utilitymaximizing choices. A bigger boat means more
wealth for a fisherman; but too many boats, chasing
too few fish, eventually decimate the fishing ground.
A Tragedy of the Commons situation occurs when two
or more reinforcing loops depend on the availability of
some limited common resource. Initially, using the
resource reinforces positive gains in each loop. But,
total activity ultimately exceeds the resource capacity,
negatively affecting individual gains in each loop.
What incentives and/or sanctions might
avoid a commons tragedy or restore its
resource levels? Taxes, credits, fines …
Environmental Sociology
Environmental sociology, an academic spin-off from the environmental
movement, theorizes & investigates sustainable development issues.
Important threads also run from the sociology of
natural resources, rural sociology, political economy,
and human ecology perspectives.
Geography and anthropology may also contribute
toward creation of a truly multi-disciplinary approach
to understanding how to improve global well-being
during the coming era of limited economic growth.
Whatever their origins as material conditions,
most environmental problems are socially
constructed as the perceptions & beliefs of
scientists, economists, media, activists, and
other interest groups. Resolving conflicts of
environment and economy ultimately requires
the negotiation of politically feasible solutions.
References
Darwin, Charles. 1859. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London: John Murray.
Eldredge, Niles and Stephen Jay Gould. 1971. “Speciation and Punctuated Equilibria: An Alternative to
Phyletic Gradualism.” Pp. 82-115 in Models in Paleobiology, edited by T.J.M. Schopf. San Francisco:
Freeman Cooper.
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162:1243-1248.
McKelvey, Bill. 1982. Organizational Systematics: Taxonomy, Evolution, Classification. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.
McKelvey, Bill and Howard E. Aldrich. 1983. “Populations, Natural Selection, and Applied Organizational
Science.” Administrative Science Quarterly 28:101-128.
Nelson, Richard and Sidney Winter.1982. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1858. “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type.”
Linnean Society of London Proceedings 3:53-62.