The Selfish Gene Summary: What Richard Dawkins Actually Argued
What The Selfish Gene is about
The Selfish Gene is a popular science book by Richard Dawkins, first published in 1976. It sets out the gene-centred view of evolution. In this view, the gene is the central unit in the story of natural selection.
Dawkins did not start from scratch. He built on the thesis of George Christopher Williams's book Adaptation and Natural Selection (1966). He also drew on W. D. Hamilton's work on kin selection.
As a work of non-fiction, the book has no plot and no particular place. It moves through an argument in theoretical evolutionary biology. One consequence of the gene-centred view runs through it. The more genes two individuals share, the more sense it makes for them to co-operate.
The title often misleads people. The "selfish gene" is a metaphor for the gene-centred view of evolution. Dawkins does not describe a particular gene that causes selfish behaviour. In fact, much of the book is devoted to explaining how altruism evolved.
The main figures and ideas
There are no characters in the usual sense. The book's cast is made up of thinkers and concepts.
Richard Dawkins is the author and guide. He takes ideas from academic biology and presents them for a general reader.
George Christopher Williams supplied the thesis that the book builds on. His 1966 book Adaptation and Natural Selection is the main foundation.
W. D. Hamilton developed the work on kin selection that Dawkins draws on. One of the book's lasting effects was to popularise Hamilton's ideas.
The gene is the book's central figure. Dawkins treats it as the thing that evolution is really about. He uses the word "selfish" as a way of describing that view.
The meme is the book's most famous invention. Dawkins introduced the term for a unit of cultural evolution, working in a way similar to the gene.
Tom Maschler appears in the book's afterlife. He advised Dawkins to call it The Immortal Gene. Looking back, Dawkins has said he wishes he had taken that advice.
The themes
Co-operation and kinship. If individuals share genes, working together can make sense from the genes' point of view. This idea links the book to Hamilton's kin selection.
Altruism. This is the theme that surprises readers who know only the title. A large part of the book explains how unselfish behaviour can evolve.
The power of a metaphor. The word "selfish" describes a way of looking at evolution. It is a claim about which unit natural selection works on. It says nothing about any gene that makes people mean. The gap between metaphor and literal meaning is part of the book's story.
Culture as evolution. Through the meme, Dawkins suggests that ideas and cultural habits may spread and change in a way that resembles genetic evolution.
Science and nature. At heart, the book is an attempt to explain the natural world through one clear scientific idea.
Why it still matters
The Selfish Gene has had an influence well beyond its own pages. Its clearest legacy is the word "meme". Memetics, the study of memes, has become a subject in its own right in the years since the book appeared.
Its effect on science is also real. By popularising Hamilton's ideas and making its own contributions to the field, the book stimulated research on human inclusive fitness.
The book's reputation also carries a warning about titles. Dawkins has said the title "might give an inadequate impression" of what the book covers. He has lamented that many people "read it by title only." To set the record straight, he expanded on the evolution of altruism in a BBC documentary called Nice Guys Finish First.
This makes the book a good choice for anyone curious about evolution who wants the core argument from the source. It also suits readers who have met the phrase "selfish gene" or the word "meme" in passing and want to know where they came from. Reading the whole book, and not just the title, is the best way to see what Dawkins was arguing.
