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Politics and society In politics, gradualism is the hypothesis that social change can be achieved in small, discrete increments rather than in abrupt strokes such as revolutions or uprisings. Gradualism is one of the defining features of political liberalism and reformism.

gradualism. [ grăj′ōō-ə-lĭz′əm ] The theory that new species evolve from existing species through gradual, often imperceptible changes rather than through abrupt, major changes. The small changes are believed to result in perceptible changes over long periods of time. Compare punctuated equilibrium.

In modern biology, gradualism, or “phyletic gradualism,” refers primarily to a pattern of sustained, directional, and incremental evolutionary change over a long period during the history of a species.

Gradualism vs Punctuated Equilibrium Gradualism is the concept that large changes in species are actually the culmination of very small changes that build up over time. Punctuated equilibrium states that changes in species take place over a relatively short amount of time “punctuating” the long periods of equilibrium.

Scientists think that species with a shorter evolution evolved mostly by punctuated equilibrium, and those with a longer evolution evolved mostly by gradualism. Gradualism is selection and variation that happens more gradually. Over a short period of time it is hard to notice.

gradualism. [ grăj′ōō-ə-lĭz′əm ] The theory that new species evolve from existing species through gradual, often imperceptible changes rather than through abrupt, major changes. The small changes are believed to result in perceptible changes over long periods of time. Compare punctuated equilibrium.

Darwinian gradualism suggests that differences between species are often matters of degree and not matters of kind.

Charles Darwin understood that evolution was a slow and gradual process. By gradual, Darwin did not mean "perfectly smooth," but rather, "stepwise," with a species evolving and accumulating small variations over long periods of time until a new species was born.