Group Selection
One of the concepts accepted until the 1960s was that of group selection, namely that individuals should work for the benefit of the species as a whole rather than themselves. This has parallels in selflessly benefitting society rather than oneself. Critiques of group selection (see George C. Williams), and the development of alternative explanations for altruistic behavior (such as kin selection), however, have led to a strong circumscription of the possible role of group selection. John Maynard Smith, who was a communist until leaving the party in protest at the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, coined the term "kin selection", and was influential in the development of game theory as a tool for the analysis of animal behavior (see Maynard Smith, 1982).
One should only benefit one's relatives who share the same genes (kin selection) or be altruistic if that is reciprocated (see evolution of altruism, prisoner's dilemma). Group selection is now only recognised in certain restrictive circumstances.
Read more about this topic: Evolutionary Theory And The Political Left
Famous quotes containing the words group and/or selection:
“There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“It is the highest and most legitimate pride of an Englishman to have the letters M.P. written after his name. No selection from the alphabet, no doctorship, no fellowship, be it of ever so learned or royal a society, no knightship,—not though it be of the Garter,—confers so fair an honour.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)