1/1/2017 ANTH206CulturalAnthropology

19thcenturyEvolutionism(UnilinealEvolution)
Library:Home
Thetheoryof NineteenthcenturyEvolutionismclaimsthat societiesdevelopaccording
Library:ClassPage tooneuniversalorderofculturalevolution.Thetheoristsidentifiedthe universal
evolutionalstagesandclassifieddifferentsocietiesassavagery,barbarianand
Library:Anth civilization.TheNineteenthcenturyEvolutionists collecteddatafrommissionariesand
ResearchGuide tradersandtheythemselvesrarelywenttothesocietiesthattheywereanalyzing.
Theyorganizedthesesecondhanddataandappliedthegeneraltheorytoallsocieties.
ChicagoStyleGuide
Since Westernsocietieshadthemostadvancedtechnology,theyputthosesocietiesat
CollegeWriting the highestrankofcivilization.

CriticalThinking TheNineteenthcenturyEvolutionistshad twomainassumptionsthatformthetheory.

Onewaspsychicunity,aconceptthat suggestshumanmindssharesimilar
characteristicsallovertheworld. Thismeansthatallpeopleandtheirsocietieswillgo
throughthesameprocessofdevelopment. Another underlyingassumptionwasthat
Westernsocietiesaresuperiortoothersocietiesintheworld.Thisassumptionwas
basedonthefactthat Westernsocietiesweredominantbecauseoftheirmilitaryand
economicpoweragainsttechnologicallysimplesocieties.

TheNineteenthcenturyEvolutionistscontributedtoanthropologyby providingthefirst
systematicmethodsforthinkingaboutandexplaininghumansocieties.Their
evolutionarytheoryisinsightfulwithregardtothetechnologicalaspectofsocieties.
Thereisalogicalprogressionfromusingsimpletoolstodevelopingcomplex
technology.Inthissense,complexsocietiesaremoreadvancedthansimple
societies.However,thisjudgmentdoesnotnecessarilyapplytootheraspectsof
societies,suchaskinsystems,religionsandchildrearingcustoms.

ContemporaryanthropologistsviewNineteenthcenturyEvolutionismastoosimplistic
toexplainthedevelopmentofvarioussocieties.Ingeneral,the Nineteenthcentury
evolutionistsreliedonracistviewsofhumandevelopmentwhichwerepopularatthat
time.Forexample, bothLewisHenryMorganandEdwardBurnettTylorbelievedthat
peopleinvarioussocietieshavedifferentlevelsofintelligence,whichleadstosocietal
differences.Thisviewofintelligenceisnolongervalidincontemporaryscience.
NineteenthcenturyEvolutionismwasstrongly attackedbyHistoricalParticularistsfor
beingspeculativeandethnocentricattheearlytwentiethcentury.Atthesametime,its
materialistapproachesandcrossculturalviewsinfluencedMarxistAnthropologyand
Neoevolutionists.

EdwardBurnettTylor(18321917,GreatBritain)

ThefounderofculturalanthropologywastheEnglishscientist
EdwardBurnettTylor.HeadaptedCharlesDarwin'stheoryof
biologicalevolutiontothestudyofhumansocieties. Tylor'sown
theoryassertedthatthereisaprogressivedevelopmentofhuman
culturesfromthemostprimitivetothehigheststagesof
civilization.Hebelievedthat societiesevolveinmuchthesame
wayasdobiologicalorganisms. Indevelopingtheconceptof
survivals,henotedthatancientcustomsandbeliefsoftensurvive
inmoderncultures,althoughsomewhattransformed.

LewisHenryMorgan(18181881,TheUnitedStates)

LewisHenryMorganisaunilinealevolutionistwhoclaimedthat
societiesdevelopaccordingtooneuniversalorderofcultural
evolution.Morgan believedinahierarchyofevolutionary
developmentfromsavagerytobarbarismtocivilization.
AccordingtoMorgan, thecrucialdistinctionbetweencivilized
societyandearliersocietiesisprivateproperty.He described
savagesocietiesascommunistic,contrastingwithcivilized
societies,whicharebasedonprivateproperty.

http://faculty.cascadia.edu/tsaneda/cultural/theories/unilineal.html 1/2
1/1/2017 ANTH206CulturalAnthropology
AlthoughMorganstheoryhasbeencriticizedforbeingspeculativeandethnocentric,his
evolutionarytheoryinfluencedthedevelopmentofanthropology.First, Morganoutlined
theimportanceofthestudyofkinshipsystemsforunderstandingthesocial
organizations.Second, Morganconductedcrossculturalresearchthatattemptedtobe
systematicandlargescale.Finally, Morganorganizedanthropologicaldataand
formulatedtheevolutionarytheoryratherthansimplycollectingculturaldata.

HistoricalParticularism

http://faculty.cascadia.edu/tsaneda/cultural/theories/unilineal.html 2/2