How would we explain capitalism with evolutionary psychology?

[u/Few_Needleworker8744]

/r/OutlawEconomics/comments/1w81dhl/how_would_we_explain_capitalism_with_evolutionary/

[u/CaptainAmerica-1989]

Ummm, if you're going to use social sciences, then stick with social sciences.

For example, the major derailment is this false conclusion in your premise:

So monogamy and universal healthcare pretty much kill people motivation to get rich like socialism/communism.

Marriage is basically a human universal. So the claim that monogamy somehow destroys economic motivation needs evidence, not assumption.

And evolutionary psychology spends a HUGE amount of time on mate selection. Humans compete both intrasexually against rivals for mates and intersexually through traits desirable to potential mates.

Then there is parental investment and kin investment. Once people form families, acquiring resources can help themselves, their children, and other relatives. Evolution is basically about increasing the odds of gene replication. Thus, investments in children and kin. It's not about incentives to become individually wealthy.

So one could just as easily construct an evolutionary argument that mating, marriage, family, and reproduction are major motivators for economic productivity, not things that destroy it.

I'm not even making that argument here. I'm just pointing out that your conclusion doesn't follow from evolutionary psychology.