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Major transitions in sociocultural evolution.

Arsham Nejad Kourki1,2

  • 1Theoretical Biology Lab, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.

Evolutionary Human Sciences
|November 27, 2025
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Summary

The Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETI) framework is misapplied to human sociocultural evolution. Sociocultural systems lack key ETI conditions like autonomous group reproduction and group-level natural selection.

Keywords:
Cultural Group SelectionEvolutionary Transitions in IndividualityMajor Evolutionary TransitionsSociocultural Evolution

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Cultural evolution
  • Social sciences

Background:

  • Growing interest in applying the Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETI) framework to human sociocultural evolution.
  • Proponents suggest human societies share features (multilevel organization, cooperation, division of labor) analogous to biological ETIs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Critically assess the applicability of the ETI framework to human sociocultural evolution.
  • Examine whether sociocultural systems meet the core conditions for an ETI.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of claims linking ETI to sociocultural evolution.
  • Drawing on recent work in cultural evolution theory.
  • Evaluating the necessity of core ETI conditions (autonomous group reproduction, group-level natural selection).

Main Results:

  • Sociocultural systems typically lack autonomous reproduction at the group level.
  • Natural selection does not operate in the reproductive mode at the group level in sociocultural systems.
  • Relaxing ETI criteria risks undermining the framework's coherence.

Conclusions:

  • The Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETI) framework is fundamentally misapplied to human sociocultural evolution.
  • Sociocultural systems do not meet the core requirements for an ETI.
  • While Major Evolutionary Transitions may offer insights, ETI theory's specific structure does not transfer to sociocultural contexts.