DOI
10.1016/j.jebo.2007.09.011
Abstract
Why did the classical economists’ doctrine of innate human sociability and the problem of factions disappear? The social Darwinists who clustered around The Economist regarded sympathy, the social glue of small groups, as an impediment to racial perfection that allowed the “unfit” to survive. Classical political economists responded to the problem of factions by proposing that sympathetic concerns be extended to those outside the faction. Social Darwinists advocated narrowing sympathetic concerns. Although social Darwinism faded, sympathy was not returned to its early prominence and economists lost the ability to explain small group formation and the tyranny of the minority.
Document Type
Restricted Article: Campus only access
Publication Date
7-2009
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2009, Elsevier B.V.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2007.09.011
The definitive version is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268109000572
Recommended Citation
David M. Levy, Sandra J. Peart, Sympathy, evolution, and The Economist, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 71, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 29-36, ISSN 0167-2681, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2007.09.011
