Modern synthesis (20th century) a gene-centred view of evolution following Hamilton's concepts, disputing the idea of evolutionary progress, and attacking the then widespread theory of group selection. Williams argued that natural selection worked by changing the frequency of alleles, and could not work at the level of groups. Gene-centred evolution was popularised by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene" and developed in his more technical writings. In 1975, E. O. Wilson published his controversial book "", the subtitle alluding to the modern synthesis as he attempted to bring the study of animal society into the evolutionary fold. This appeared radically new,
Alternatives to evolution by natural selection 1969 paper by Jack Lester King and Thomas H. Jukes, provocatively but misleadingly titled "Non-Darwinian Evolution". It provided a wide variety of evidence including protein sequence comparisons, studies of the Treffers mutator gene in "E. coli", analysis of the genetic code, and comparative immunology, to argue that most protein evolution is due to neutral mutations and genetic drift. According to Kimura, the theory applies only for evolution at the molecular level, while phenotypic evolution is controlled by natural selection, so the neutral theory does not constitute a true alternative. The various alternatives to Darwinian evolution by natural selection were not