Developments in social terminology: semantic battles in a conceptual war

The problems posed by the evolution of the diverse forms of animal sociality are among the most important and fascinating in evolutionary biology. The conceptual and terminological framework guiding studies of social evolution has been based on a particular insect model, namely, that of highly derived family-structured societies. Virtually all other social systems have been categorized as ‘less social’ relative to these societies. Recently, the ambiguities and constraints inherent in this hierarchical classification have led to numerous proposals to amend social terminology. What is the best framework for studying social evolution? Should the traditional classification be expanded, narrowed or abandoned altogether? In an important respect, most recent proposals present the same wine in a different bottle by retaining and recasting key terms of the traditional social-evolutionary classification.