Institutions & Evolution

Although Hayek is an advocate of evolutionist rationalism, his works do not provide us with a conclusive statement about “what does evolve”. Concerning himself with not being mistaken for a Social Darwinist, he emphasizes that cultural evolution operates at the level of group selection, but he fails to draw up any further specification and too many questions remain unanswered.

From our point of view, the subjects of cultural evolution are the patterns of conduct –expressed in a complex of norms, i.e.: social and legal institutions. As Hayek pointed out in “Rules and Order”, the membership of a certain group depends on obeying the set of rules of conduct that are ascribed to it. Since social and legal institutions rule the expected behaviour of individuals and organizations, who continually adjust their plans to the changes of the others, we can regard institutions as a sort of “genetic code” of the society, which enable it to automatic responses to changes in the environment, correcting any maladjustment and preserving its stability.

Nevertheless, an inherited institution could become obsolete and then work as a positive feedback system, increasing each disturbance and risking the stability of the given order. The later works of Hayek cited the cases of some notions of justice coming from our tribal past as an example of that –but this is another story…