Social Harmony Paradigms and Natural Selection: Darwin, Kropotkin, and the Metatheory of Mutual Aid

Abstract

This article proposes the mutual aid theory of Charles Darwin and Peter Kropotkin as an engendering metatheory for social harmony paradigms within public relations, including communitarianism, excellence theory, and fully functioning society theory. It extends current research in public relations beyond Darwin's Origin of Species to include that author's later Descent of Man as well as the neglected works of Russian evolutionary biologist Peter Kropotkin. Drawing upon the research of those authors, the article presents evidence that the evolutionary processes of natural selection created the social instinct that provides both positive and normative status for the social harmony paradigms within public relations.