The ecological approach to culture is most welcome as a theory that encompasses cultural legacies, environmental conditions and the role of actors in driving change, aligning cultural evolution with ecological theory across species. However, because culture is inherently shared, complex factors in the social environment must be considered. Some of these are outlined here. Importantly, approaching culture from an ecological perspective – as phenotypic expressions generated by cognitive adaptations to achieve fitness-enhancing social and environmental goals – has the potential to address questions that theories of social learning and transmission alone cannot: why some cultural innovations proliferate while others misfire, why some thrive and later collapse, and why still others endure and go on to form the stuff of cumulative culture.