- The very first form and foundation of social evolution was the philosophy of organic society. Organic society is the prospective that societies are really living organisms that undergo many of the same stages and developments that animals and humans go through. The very first of these philosophies can be traced back to the 14th century in the writings of Ibn Khaldun, and Islamic scholar. Social evolution truly culminated after the work of Charles Darwin with his book, The Origin of Species. In 1859, Charles Darwin established the theory of natural selection. Natural selection holds that particular traits are useful to an individual's survival and reproduction and that over time, the traits that are useful become more frequent than traits that are less useful. Sociologists applied this theory of natural selection to a social setting. Essentially, there are particular behavioral and social traits that allow individuals to survive and reproduce better than others. Behavioral and social traits that are not useful eventually become infrequent and can potentially die out; behavioral and social traits that are useful become more frequent.
- Many sociologists and psychologists find the theory of social evolution appealing today. One reason people might seek peaceful interactions are better able to survive and reproduce. Some sociologists and psychologists use the same explanation when explaining xenophobia, fear of foreign people. Societies develop xenophobic attitudes to survive when they have limited resources. The theory of social evolution suggests that even though many people successfully argue that xenophobia is a useless and barbarous attitude, it is still ingrained in some people's beliefs and attitudes. That's because the attitude was useful to survive in the past.
The theory of social evolution is a descriptive and scientific explanation of people's general habits; it is not an ethical position. This means when the theory is used, sociologists and psychologists are merely explaining a human tendency or pattern. It does not make the tendency or pattern right in itself. - There are a number of important people who contributed to the theory of social evolution. One of these is Hebert Spencer, who coined the term "survival of the fittest." Spencer (1820 to 1903) was an English philosopher and sociologist inspired by the work of Charles Darwin. A modern contributor to the theory was William Hamilton (1936 to 2000), who developed the theory of kin selection. This theory suggests that individuals are attracted to certain people because they have desirable behaviors or social traits.
- Overall, many modern sociologists and physiologists accept the theory of social evolution as a working theory. This means that it's a theory that is still undergoing revisions, but working with the theory tends to explain complex human behavior in a wide range of subjects.
- The theory of social evolution is not fact at this point; however, many sociologists and physiologists have pointed to its usefulness and relevance.
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