Gene-centered view of evolution

The gene-centric view of evolution or gene selection theory holds that evolution can be viewed as acting only at the level of genes, and that selection on higher units such as populations and species (group selection) is negligible. In particular, it holds that selection on higher levels such as organisms and populations almost never opposes selection on genes.

The view draws on the mathematical evolutionary biology of the early 20th Century developed by Ronald Fisher and others, and was expounded George C. Williams. Its most notable later exponent was the British biologist W.D. Hamilton. Hamilton's friend Richard Dawkins popularized it in his book The Selfish Gene.

One reason for the wide acceptance of the idea was that evolutionary models in the 1960s seemed to suggest that selection at higher levels had to be extremely weak. However, in the last decade, much theoretical work has shown that multi-level selection is indeed possible.

The gene-centric view has also been criticised for being inappropriately reductionist. In recent years, partially as a consequence of the influence of ideas from the study of complex systems, this view has become less dominant, and interaction between genes and between organisms as a force in evolution has become a topic of research.