Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 10
.
1
Key concepts in the social-evolutionary framework
Concept
Description
Evolution
All components of clusters are subject to evolution, including the institutions,
rules, and networks through which individuals operate. Social evolution
is driven by the general Darwinian algorithm of variation, selection, and
retention, analogous to biological evolution but with mechanisms that are
distinctly social and vary across local settings.
Idea
Ideas are the unit of selection. They constitute the raw material with which
individual actors interpret and construct their world. Evolutionary selection
works on the phenotypic, behavioral expression of ideas.
Population
Joint dependence on the same resources (human attention) is the main dei ning
criterion for idea populations. The distribution of ideas in a given population
constitutes the ecological space within which ideas unfold.
Variation
Variation is the basis for selection and retention. Ideas change through
mutation and recombination. Variations arise in a process that may be 'blind'
with respect to the adaptive value of new combinations of ideas.
Human agency
Individuals are the translators of ideas. They are intentional but not always
calculatively rational because of social biases, conformity pressures, and
cognitive limitations. Agency is situated in a context of fundamental
complexity and uncertainty, which it shapes in the process of adapting to it.
Mechanism
Mechanisms are the causal force connecting outcomes and initial conditions.
Higher level mechanisms may be driven by mechanisms operating at lower
levels. Mechanisms in the translation of ideas include imitation, improvisation,
and discourse.
discussed above, some versions of institutional theory have perhaps moved the farthest
towards a systematic consideration of deliberate agency, by studying the social construc-
tion of culture with reference to cognitive and political processes (DiMaggio, 1997). Also
population ecologists have recently shown growing interest in agency, by, for example,
exploring the social construction of identity as a strategic blueprint for organizational
forms (Hannan et al., 2007). In the literature on clusters, deliberate agency is a topic for
researchers studying clusters as 'epistemic communities' in which the actors organize
themselves around the mastery of shared codes (Håkanson, 2005). However, when these
researchers refer to tacit knowledge, experience, or novel business ideas, they normally
stop short of examining the content of ideas and the accumulated knowledge and experi-
ence that ideas create. I suggest that new insights can be obtained from examining ideas
in their own right, as well as the mechanisms that drive their evolution. Table 10.1 pro-
vides an overview of the key concepts in the idea-based social-evolutionary framework.
Ideas as the unit of analysis and evolutionary selection
That ideas matter in economic geography is probably beyond dispute, but it is rarely
made explicit. Beliefs, assumptions, understandings, and uncertainty can make the dif-
ference between the success and failure of cluster policies. Ideas can promote cluster
change or they can help maintain the status quo. We speak of good ideas when we marvel
at the foresight of cluster planners, and we speak of novel ideas when we celebrate the
imaginativeness and ingenuity of cluster entrepreneurs. Depending on the context, we
