The evolution of culture design: from behavioral science to human systems.
Culture design did not begin in modern corporate boardrooms or boutique branding agencies. Its foundational roots trace back to mid-20th-century behavioral psychology and evolutionary theory — a body of science establishing that human environments and the behaviors they produce can be intentionally shaped rather than left to emergent chance.
The science that made culture designable.
Three intellectual movements — behavioral design, memetics, and organizational systems thinking — turned culture from something observed into something that can be architected.
- 1961
Skinner formalizes the design of cultures
Psychologist B.F. Skinner published his seminal work, The Design of Cultures, formalizing the scientific argument that human environments and behavioral contingencies can be intentionally shaped rather than left to emergent chance.
- 1976
Dawkins introduces memetics
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins introduced memetics in The Selfish Gene. By defining the “meme” as the fundamental unit of cultural transmission — the informational DNA of ideas, symbols, and behaviors that replicate from mind to mind — memetics revealed that organizational cultures evolve through the selective retention of shared beliefs and habits.
- 1980s–1990s
Schein brings culture into management science
Organizational pioneers like Edgar Schein integrated systems thinking and cultural psychology into management science, demonstrating that an organization’s shared assumptions, artifacts, and behavioral norms constitute a living, adaptive system.
- 2000s
Design thinking makes it practical
With the rise of design thinking, the practice evolved from theoretical analysis into practical application — treating workplace values, rituals, and incentives with the same iterative rigor and prototyping traditionally applied to software architecture or physical products.
Culture design became a discipline, not a slogan.
Once values, rituals, and incentives could be prototyped and measured, culture design emerged as its own field of practice — with methods, artifacts, and governance rather than posters and platitudes.
Today, culture design sits at the convergence of evolutionary science, memetics, organizational governance, and human-centered design. It borrows evidence from behavioral psychology, structure from systems thinking, and craft from design — which is why it produces outcomes leaders can actually measure.
A methodology forged in service of the Sustainable Development Goals.
During his time volunteering at the United Nations, Jason Burnham formed a coalition of independent consultants, social scientists, and culture evolutionary strategists to develop a culture design and transformation methodology that would aid in the delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
What emerged from that work was a refined methodology that was fractal, scalable, and adaptable to any organization, community, or social system. By 2015, Jason had established a culture design methodology fit for commercial use across any organization needing to design, evolve, or transform its culture.
“Fractal, scalable, and adaptable to any organization, community, or social system.”
The design principle behind the methodology
Science-backed practice, open frameworks, measurable alignment.
At Culture Design, LLC, our practice and platform are built directly on this foundation of behavioral science and social systems research, in combination with Jason Burnham’s creative works.
Through proprietary methodologies like Purpose-Centered Design™, we bridge foundational cultural psychology with accessible, open-source frameworks and DIY tools. We move beyond cosmetic corporate slogans, equipping leaders and teams to assess, architect, and transform their own organizational operating systems with scientific clarity, ethical governance, and measurable human alignment.
Put sixty years of culture science to work in your organization.
Start with a conversation, or measure where your culture stands today.