STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

Lewis Henry Morgan, (born November 21, 1818, near Aurora, New York, U.S.—died December 17,
1881, Rochester, New York), American ethnologist and a principal founder of scientific
anthropology, known especially for establishing the study of kinship systems and for his
comprehensive theory of social evolution.

The leading proponent of this savagery-barbarism-civilization scale was Lewis Henry Morgan, who
unveiled it in his 1877 book Ancient Society. Writing less than two decades after Darwin published
On the Origin of Species, Morgan depicted human cultures as things that evolve. "It can now be
asserted upon convincing evidence that savagery preceded barbarism in all the tribes of mankind,
as barbarism is known to have preceded civilization," Morgan wrote. These "three distinct
conditions are connected with each other in a natural as well as necessary sequence of progress."
Morgan was one of the world's first anthropologists.

CONCEPT:
Morgan posited that advances in social organization arose primarily from changes in food
production. Society had progressed from a hunting-and-gathering stage (which he denoted by the
term “savagery”) to a stage of settled agriculture (“barbarism”) and then on to an urban society
possessing a more advanced agriculture (“civilization”).

In his best-known work, Ancient Society, Morgan divided the evolution of human culture into the
same three basic stages Tylor had suggested (savagery, barbarism, and civilization). But he also
subdivided savagery and barbarism into upper, middle, and lower segments (Morgan 1877: 5-6),
providing contemporary examples of each of these three stages. Each stage was distinguished by a
technological development and had a correlate in patterns of subsistence, marriage, family, and
political organization. In Ancient Society, Morgan commented, "As it is undeniable that portions of
the human family have existed in a state of savagery, other portions in a state of barbarism, and still
others in a state of civilization, it seems equally so that these three distinct conditions are
connected with each other in a natural as well as necessary sequence of progress"(Morgan 1877:3).

Morgan distinguished these stages of development in terms of technological achievement, and thus
each had its identifying benchmarks. Middle savagery was marked by the acquisition of a fish diet
and the discovery of fire; upper savagery by the bow and arrow; lower barbarism by pottery;
middle barbarism by animal domestication and irrigated agriculture; upper barbarism by the
manufacture of iron; and civilization by the phonetic alphabet (Morgan 1877: chapter 1). For
Morgan, the cultural features distinguishing these various stages arose from a "few primary germs
of thought"- germs that had emerged while humans were still savages and that later developed into
the "principle institutions of mankind.”

Lewis H. Morgan, an anthropologist whose ideas have had much impact on sociology, in his 1877
classic Ancient Societies differentiated between three eras: savagery, barbarism and civilization,
which are divided by technological inventions, like fire, bow, pottery in the savage era,
domestication of animals, agriculture, metalworking in the barbarian era and alphabet and writing
in the civilization era.[13] Thus Morgan introduced a link between social progress and
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

technological progress. Morgan viewed technological progress as a force behind social progress,
and any social change—in social institutions, organizations or ideologies—has its beginnings in
technological change.[13] [14] Morgan's theories were popularized by Friedrich Engels, who based
his famous work The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State on it.[13] For Engels and
other Marxists, this theory was important as it supported their conviction that materialistic
factors—economic and technological—are decisive in shaping the fate of humanity

KEY IDEAS:

Employing Montesquieu's categories of savagery, barbarism, and civilization, Morgan subdivided

the first two categories into three stages (lower, middle, and upper) and gave contemporary
ethnographic examples of each stage. Each stage was characterized by a technological advance and
was correlated with advances in subsistence patterns, family and marriage and political
organization (Seymour-Smith 1986:201).

EXAMPLE:
● Savagery (simple hunters)
● Barbarism (village farmers and herders)
● Civilization (cities and states)
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

REFERENCES:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lewis-Henry-Morgan
http://www.nonzero.org/chap1.htm
https://www.immagic.com/eLibrary/ARCHIVES/GENERAL/WIKIPEDI/W110525S.pdf
https://www.gench.edu.cn/_upload/article/f4/c3/ac5de8a24a78bdcb0886ee90e290/dee84ff9-2bb1-
4c56-8e2c-59f646ece97c.pdf

savagery:
Powell, J. (1883). From Savagery to Barbarism. Annual Address of the President, J. W. Powell,
Delivered February 3, 1885. Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington, 3, 173-196.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/658190

SUMMARY
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

(RICCO) PROPONENT: LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

-an American ethnologist and a principal founder of scientific anthropology
-one of the world’s first anthropologists
- the theory of the stages of development, often regarded to as “kinship system” was
influenced by Sir Edward Burnett Taylor, founder of cultural anthropology

(SHAMY) SAVAGERY
-Morgan identifies this era as the beginning of the history of man
-dubbed as the “lowest stage” of development, where men coexisted with plants and
animals, neither culturing nor domesticating them
- divided into three ethnical periods: lower, middle, upper

Lower
Subsistence: fruits for food; homes at groves, caves, and trees
Family: marrying of brothers and sisters
Religion: Polytheistic
System of Government: Horde (armies or tribes of nomadic warriors)
Property: no sense of personal ownership

Middle
Subsistence: Fish, discovery of fire; nomads
Family: group marriage, excluding family members
Religion: Polytheistic
System of Government: Matrilineal (based on kinship with the female lineage)
Property: lands owned by tribes, property inheritance from mother

Upper
Subsistence: invention of bow and arrow
Family: group marriage, excluding family members
Religion: Polytheistic
System of Government: Matrilineal (based on kinship with the female lineage)
Property lands owned by tribes, property inheritance from mother

(JEWEL) BARBARISM:
-stage of settled agriculture

Lower
Subsistence: pottery
Family: monogamy, casual divorce
Religion: polytheistic
System of Government: Matrilineal (based on kinship with the female lineage)
Property lands owned by tribes, property inheritance from mother

Middle
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

Subsistence: animal domestication and irrigated agriculture

Family: monogamy, casual divorce
Religion: polytheistic
System of Government: Patrilineal (based on kinship with male lineage)
Property: personal property, property inheritance from father

Upper
Subsistence: manufacturing of iron
Family: monogamy, casual divorce
Religion: polytheistic
System of Government: Patrilineal (based on kinship with male lineage)
Property: personal property, property inheritance from father

(RICCO) CIVILIZATION:
-development of an urban society with highly advanced agricultural methods and technology

Subsistence: invention of phonetic alphabet (writing systems), production of literary records

Family: monogamy, Patriarchal family
Religion: Monotheistic
System of Government: State
Property: public properties, personal properties, and state ownership

(SHAMY) CONCLUSION:
These three stages of development covers the technological development of men, from
coexisting with nature, to creating tools from nature as a means of sustenance for the family, to
developing these tools as to attend the need not only of individuals or families, but of the society as
a whole. Commented [1]: HI GUYS AMO NI SYA ANG
SUMMARY SNG PRESENTATION. kamo bahala wrap
up sang definition for each basta ang sa Stages na
may subdivisions (savagery and barbarism); explain
each subdivision as a whole nalang :))
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

I. Lower Status of Savagery.

This period commenced with the infancy of the human race, and may be
said to have ended with the acquisition of a fish subsistence and of a
knowledge of the use of fire.
Mankind were then living in their original restricted habitat and
subsisting upon fruits and nuts. The commencement of articulate speech
belongs to this period. No exemplification of tribes of mankind in this
condition remained to the historical period.

II. Middle Status of Savagery.

It commenced with the acquisition of a fish subsistence and a knowledge
of the use of fire, and ended with the invention of the bow and arrow.
Mankind, while in this condition, spread from their original habitat over
the greater portion of the earth’s surface. Among tribes still existing, it will
leave in the middle Status of savagery, for example, the Australians and the
greater part of the Polynesians when discovered. It will be sufficient to give
one or more exemplifications of each status.

III. Upper Status of savagery.

It commenced with the invention of the bow and arrow, and ended with
the invention of the art of pottery. It leaves in the Upper Status of Savagery
the Athapascan tribes of the Hudson’s Bay Territory, the tribes of the valley
of the Columbia, and certain coast tribes of North and South America; but
with relation to the time of their discovery. This closes the period of
Savagery.
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

IV. Lower Status of Barbarism.

The invention or practice of the art of pottery, all things considered, is
probably the most effective and conclusive test that, can he selected to fix a
boundary line, necessarily arbitrary, between savagery and barbarism. The
distinctness of the two conditions has long been recognized, but no
criterion of progress out of the former into the latter has hitherto been
brought forward. All such tribes, then, as never attained to the art of
pottery will be classed as savages, and those possessing this art, but who
never attained a phonetic alphabet and the use of writing will be classed as
barbarians. The first sub-period of barbarism commenced with the
manufacture of pottery, whether by original invention or adoption. In
finding its termination, and the commencement of the Middle Status, a
difficulty is encountered in the unequal endowments of the two
hemispheres, which began to be influential upon human affairs after the
period of savagery, had passed. It may be met, however, by the adoption of
equivalents. In the Eastern hemisphere, the domestication of animals, and
the Western, the cultivation of maize and plants by irrigation, together
with the use of adobe-brick and stone in house building have been selected
as sufficient evidence of progress to work a transition out of the Lower and
into the Middle Status of barbarism. It leaves, for example, in the Lower
Status, the Indian tribes of the United States east of the Missouri River,
and such tribes of Europe and Asia as practiced the art of pottery, but,
were without domestic animals.

V. Middle Status of Barbarism.

It commenced with the domestication of animals in the Eastern
hemisphere, and in the Western with cultivation by irrigation and with the
use of adobe brick and stone in architecture, as shown. Its termination may
be fixed with the invention of the process of smelting iron ore. This places
in the Middle Status, for example, the Village Indians of New Mexico,
Mexico, Central America and Peru, and such tribes in the Eastern
hemisphere as possessed domestic animals, but were without a knowledge
of iron. The ancient, Britons, although familiar with the use of iron, fairly
 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT BY LEWIS HENRY MORGAN

belong in this connection. The vicinity of more advanced continental tribes

had advanced the arts of life among them far beyond the state of
development of their domestic institutions.

VI. Upper Status of Barbarism.

It commenced with the manufacture of iron, and ended with the
invention of a phonetic alphabet, and the use of writing in literary
composition. Here civilization begins. This leaves in the Upper Status, for
example, the Grecian tribes of the Homeric age, the Italian tribes shortly
before the founding of Rome, and the Germanic tribes of the time of Cesar.

VII. Status of Civilization.

It commenced, as stated, with the use of a phonetic alphabet and the
production of literary records, and divides into Ancient and Modern. As an
equivalent, hieroglyphical writing upon stone may be admitted.

Human advancement has never been a steady progression from barbarism to civilization, there
usually were ups and downs of advancement of Being, values, skills and customs invented and re-
invented, abandoned, forgotten and re-invented again and again throughout millennia. Having
stepped into the 21st century, when Reason has basically abandoned many of us and encountering
barbarism again, it may be useful to re-examine the overall human passage from the stage of
savagery to the more advanced stages of existence, trying to obtain the approximate pattern of
changes and re-define the meaning of civilization and barbarism. This re-examination involves a
second look at the phenomenon of cyclicity and shift, possessing a quasi- biological rhythm. This
paper offers a mini transhistoric and cross-cultural analysis of the civilizational shifts
References

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nonzero.org/chap1.htm

Britannica, T. E. (2015, December 29). Lewis Henry Morgan. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lewis-Henry-Morgan