Abstract :
Since the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species, a number of scholars have explored
the possibility of expanding Darwinism beyond the domain of biology to fields of study
as diverse as language, psychology, economics, behaviour and culture. In the last half
century, some of these scholars have generalized Darwinian principles to study socioeconomic
change, with developments being made in the study of technological innovation,
organizational diversity, multi-level co-evolution, memetics and organizational
change. However, these developments have been hampered not only by disagreement
between the scholars themselves, but more broadly by criticisms from a diverse range
of established scientific traditions within economics and organization science. In light
of these developments, the aim of this paper is to provide a timely critical review of the
use of the Generalized Darwinist approach to the study of socio-economic change. In
the process, key disagreements between the different conceptual and empirical
approaches taken by scholars, and key criticisms against using a Generalized Darwinist
approach are highlighted. Building on this review, the paper outlines some key challenges
and opportunities facing the Generalized Darwinist approach in the study of
technological innovation, organizational change and multi-level co-evolution. The
paper concludes with outlines for future research, and in particular further conceptual
and empirical developments.
