In The Selfish Gene (1976) British evolutionary biologist, professor, and author Richard Dawkins coined the term as being on a par with “gene.” A meme—for instance, a tune, recipe, moral system, or style of dress—gets passed on from one generation to the next via cultural interaction. Although memes are not usually held to be physically inherited the way that genes are, social biologists believe them to be subject to natural selection and mutation.