Review

“A long-awaited and desperately needed guide to why the social sciences should take Darwin seriously. Erudite, lucidly written—a veritable tour de force.”—Robin I. M. Dunbar, University of Oxford (Robin I.M. Dunbar )

“In this provocative and informative new book, Hodgson and Knudsen offer a general conceptual scheme that allows the application of Darwinian principles to social and economic evolution. The authors bring together concepts and principles from an eclectic mix of sources. Among other applications, they show the usefulness of this scheme for explaining the evolution of prelinguistic culture, human language, tribal customs, writing and records, states and laws, and the institutionalization of science and technology. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in modern evolutionary thought as applied to the social sciences.”--Howard E. Aldrich, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Howard E. Aldrich )

“This is a foundational book. It should be required reading for anyone who is concerned about the future of economic theory, not to mention those who may need some retrofitting in the wake of the neoclassical meltdown.”--Peter A. Corning, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems (Peter A. Corning )

“In Darwin’s Conjecture, Hodgson and Knudsen join numerous scholars from Darwin’s day to the present in attempting to extend Darwin’s analysis of selection to cover other sorts of phenomena, including socioeconomic evolution. The reader of this carefully and clearly written book will come away bereft of the usual superficial objections to selection outside gene-based biological evolution.”--David Lee Hull, Northwestern University (David Lee Hull )

“One of the most accomplished institutional economists of our time and his coauthor argue for a generalized Darwinism for the social sciences. They are far from alone in thinking that the time is right!”--Marion Blute, University of Toronto

(Marion Blute )

"A book that business people should read in order to understand business. It is a scholarly and profound work of relevance to all the social sciences."—Financial Times (Financial Times )

"Hodgson and Knudsen argue in meticulous detail that [Darwin''s] principles apply to all ''complex systems of population'' in social and economic domains. . . . The authors conducted a massive amount of research in writing this book, which is a must read for social science scholars interested in evolutionary theory or complexity."—Choice (Choice )

About the Author

Geoffrey M. Hodgson is research professor in business studies at the University of Hertfordshire, England, and the author of over a dozen books, including The Evolution of Institutional Economics and How Economics Forgot History. Thorbjørn Knudsen is professor of organization design at the University of Southern Denmark and has an extensive publication record specializing in evolutionary dynamics and adaptive organizations.