Societal Evolution (Classic Reprint): A Study of the Evolutionary Basis of the Science of Society

Explore how human society evolves through the lens of scientific ideas about variation, selection, and adaptation. This book applies Darwinian thinking to the study of social order, offering a clear framework for understanding how cultures, institutions, and practices change over time.

This edition presents an accessible, structured look at how civilization shapes, and is shaped by, the forces that drive societal change. It contrasts natural selection with societal selection and explains why civilization enables new forms of adaptation, even as it shields people from some natural pressures.

• Learn how variation, selection (automatic and rational), transmission, and adaptation work in cultural and social contexts.


• See how counterselection and humanitarian concerns influence who survives to contribute to future generations.


• Appreciate the role of civilization in creating new environments that change what counts as “fitness” for a society.


• Discover how this line of inquiry extends earlier work on folkways and connects biology with social science.

Ideal for readers of social science and intellectual history who want a grounded, methodical take on how evolutionary ideas illuminate the study of human society.