In the last thirty years, it has been identified a theory corresponding to the biological evolution one which concerns the behavioral traits of men and their social organization (institutions, customs, beliefs, social norms, values and technologies). By tracing back the guidelines of cultural evolution and showing how it differs from biological evolution, this paper focuses on the cultural evolution theory and its capability to explain the emergence and the change of rules and institutions at the bottom of social life. In the last part of the paper, recovering F. A. Hayek’s pioneering insights, I will analyze the evolutionary dynamics acting at the level of rules and institutions. I will show, on the one hand, how selection of the rules is driven by a complex process in which emerg-ing macro-systemic effects lend an evolutionary advantage to some human groups and allow us to explain how specific rules have successfully survived over time. On the other hand, I will argue that some behaviors have jointly transformed with the changing of societies by following the increasing degree of complexity in the relationships and human environments.
