Michod, Richard E., and Matthew D. Herron. “Cooperation and conflict during evolutionary transitions in individuality.” Journal of evolutionary biology 19, no. 5 (2006): 1406-1409.
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Cooperation received much less attention 30 years ago than other forms of ecological interaction, such as competition and predation. Workers generally viewed cooperation as being of limited interest, of special relevance to certain species (e.g. social insects, birds, humans and our primate relatives) but not of general significance to life on earth. This view has changed, due in large part to the study of evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs). What began as the study of animal social behaviour some 40 years ago has now embraced the study of social interactions at all levels in the hierarchy of life. Instead of being seen as a special characteristic clustered in certain lineages of social animals, cooperation is now seen as the primary creative force behind ever greater levels of complexity through the creation of new kinds of individuals. Cooperation plays this central role in ETIs because it exports fitness from the lower level (its costs) to the new higher level (its benefits).