Sympathy, evolution, and The Economist

David M. Levy and Sandra J. Peart

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2009, vol. 71, issue 1, pages 29-36

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.

Keywords: Sympathy; Faction; Spencer; Bagehot; Hayek; Social; Darwinist; Tyranny; of; the; minority (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:71:y:2009:i:1:p:29-36

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