 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.