[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-200279-105":53,"doc-detail-200279-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","the-nature-and-units-of-social-selection-article-overview","The Nature and Units of Social Selection - Article Overview","","On the basis of George Price’s technical definition of selection (1995), the article distinguishes two social-level forms: subset selection and generative selection. It explains how generative selection can accommodate new variation, while subset selection cannot, leading generative cycles to potentially continue indefinitely and subset selection to reduce variation until it halts. It further argues that neither form necessarily implies improvement, that both can produce rapid social effects, and that selection in the social domain involves choice and preference. The conclusion sets a research challenge on cultural units and multi-level processes.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/the-nature-and-units-of-social-selection-article-overview/200279/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-nature-and-units-of-social-selection-article-overview/200279.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Riley West","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-20","2026-09-04",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":76},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"What is the key difference between subset selection and generative selection in social contexts?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"Generative selection can explain how new variation is created, while subset selection cannot. Repeated cycles of generative selection can continue because imperfect replication keeps generating new variation.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"Does social selection necessarily lead to improvement or efficiency?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"No. The article emphasizes that neither subset nor generative selection implies improvement, efficiency, or systematic outcomes.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why can selection in the social domain still involve intentionality?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"Both generative selection and subset selection involve choice and preference in some way in social settings, so intentionality is not necessarily excluded.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},200279,1788508459,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":76,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":20,"language":135,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":125,"read_time":47},1099523885074,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","The Nature and Units of Social Selection  \nGeoffrey M. Hodgson and Thorbjørn Knudsen  \n16 March 2006  \nPublished in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics  \nThe Business School, University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK  \nand  \nDepartment of Marketing and Management, University of Southern Denmark, Odense Campus, 5230 Odense M, Denmark  \nAddress for correspondence:  \nMalting House, 1 Burton End, West Wickham, Cambridgeshire CB1 6SD, UK  \n[g.m.hodgson@herts.ac.uk](g.m.hodgson@herts.ac.uk)  \nKEY WORDS: Subset selection, generative selection, generalized selection, Price equation  \nJEL classification: B25, B52, D20, D83, L20  \nABSTRACT  \nOn the basis of the technical definition of selection developed by George Price (1995), we describe two forms of selection that commonly occur at the social level, subset selection and generative selection. Both forms of selection are abstract and general, and therefore also incomplete; both leave aside the question of explaining the selection criterion and why entities possess stable traits. However, an important difference between the two kinds of selection is that generative selection can accommodate an explanation of how new variation is created, while subset selection cannot. An evolutionary process involving repeated cycles of generative selection can, in principle, continue indefinitely because imperfect replication generates new variation along the way, whereas subset selection reduces variation and eventually grinds to a halt. Even if the two kinds of selection are very different, they share a number of features. First, neither subset selection nor generative selection implies improvement: neither kind of selection necessarily leads to efficiency or implies systematic outcomes. Second, both subset selection and generative selection can lead to extremely rapid effects in a social population. Third, in the social domain, both generative selection and subset selection involve choice and preference in some way: neither form of selection necessarily excludes intentionality. In concluding the article, we single out a challenge for future research in identifying the role of various units of culture in selection processes and the multiple levels at which social selection processes take place.  \nThe Nature and Units of Social Selection  \nGeoffrey M. Hodgson and Thorbjørn Knudsen  \n1. Introduction  \nIn common usage, selection is synonymous with choice, connoting the act of selecting, as in the selection of an item from a restaurant menu.1 In contrast, the scientific usage of selection has a very precise meaning, referring to a change in the distribution of a population property (a set of traits) such as the colour of moths or the size of firms in an industry. However, as emphasized below, this scientific meaning does not necessarily exclude choice.  \nTwo very different concepts of selection are employed in science, and both are encompassed by its general mathematical definition (Price, 1995; Knudsen, 2002, 2004) . One meaning can involve the selection of a subset of elements from a set. Examples include the selection of a subset of reindeer that survive a predator‟s attack or the selection of a subset of firms that survive an industry shakeout. Price (1995) termed this subset selection. Subset selection is very different from the concept of generative selection – which was part of Darwin‟s great achievement – where offspring are not subsets of parents.2  \nThe general concept of selection follows from a mathematical definition developed by George Price (1995) . It can be described in the following way: Selection involves an anterior set of entities, each interacting with their environment, and somehow being transformed into a posterior set, where all members of the posterior set are sufficiently similar to some members of the anterior set, and where the resulting frequencies of posterior entities depend upon their properties in the environmental context.3","cbCaiuOa70m4eea7","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuOa70m4eea7","pdf",200259,"English","# 1. Introduction\n## Selection in common usage vs scientific usage\n## Two concepts: subset selection and generative selection\n## Price’s technical definition of selection","[{\"question\":\"What is the key difference between subset selection and generative selection in social contexts?\",\"answer\":\"Generative selection can explain how new variation is created, while subset selection cannot. Repeated cycles of generative selection can continue because imperfect replication keeps generating new variation.\"},{\"question\":\"Does social selection necessarily lead to improvement or efficiency?\",\"answer\":\"No. The article emphasizes that neither subset nor generative selection implies improvement, efficiency, or systematic outcomes.\"},{\"question\":\"Why can selection in the social domain still involve intentionality?\",\"answer\":\"Both generative selection and subset selection involve choice and preference in some way in social settings, so intentionality is not necessarily excluded.\"}]","The Nature and Units of Social Selection - Article Overview | PDF"]