“An evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as “information capable of affecting individuals’ behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation and other forms of social transmission”.
Cultural evolution is the change of this information over time. This theoretical framework uses concepts like cultural variants, transmission mechanisms, and selective pressures to model how ideas, behaviors, and technologies spread and change over time, enabling rapid adaptation beyond purely genetic means.
Previously, it was believed that social change resulted from biological adaptations. However, anthropologists now commonly accept that social changes arise from a combination of social, environmental, and biological influences, as viewed from a nature vs nurture framework.”