ANTHROPOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND FORRUNERS

-In twentieth century ,sociology experienced a rapid development most notable in France,
Germany ,and in the United States, although it advance in somewhat different directions in the three
countries.

-In order to acquire some understanding of the kind of sciences sociology and anthropology are, it will
be helpful to locate them in the scientific universe and to exhibit their locations with the other academic
disciplines.

ANTHROPOLOGY -is a relatively recent product of western civilization .

In the United States- the first course in general anthropology to carry credit in a college or university
was offered at the University of Rochester ,but not until 1879.

In 1886-the first anthropology department was founded at the University of Pennsylvania.

-Anthropology’s slow growth may be due to the limits of human technology. Another significant
element that contributed to the slow growth of anthropology was the failure of Europeans to recognize
the common humanity that they share with people anywhere.

-In 1795 ,Geologist James Hutton proposed that the physical features of the Earth generated by physical
phenomenon such as erosion of rocks cause by winds and waves.

-In 1830 , Charles Lyell popularized the Uniformitarian Theory .

-In 1859 , Darwin’s Origin of the Species was published where he presented evidences that natural
species have change ,or evolved , over long time spans.

Natural Selection- it is an organism encountered natural conditions that select for those individuals best
able to compete ,avoid being eaten, resist diseases and parasites.

Unilineal Evolution Theory- in a 19th century anthropologist devise to account for cultural development .
Unilineal evolutionist believed that all human ways of life pass through a similar sequence of stages ,or
grades as they evolve .

Lewis Henry Morgan, a lawyer from New York State identified seven stages in his book Ancient Society ,
published in 1887 as follows;

1. Lower Savagery
2. Middle Savagery
3. Upper Savagery
4. Lower Barbarism
5. Middle Barbarism
6. Upper Barbarism
7. Civilization

Morgan define this stages by what he called inventions and discoveries and we call them today as
technological and economic innovations.
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor , in his Primitive culture , published in 1871 , investigated the origins and
development of religion . He postulated the religion had passed through three stages , these are;

1. Animism – defined as the belief that the world as populated by beings such as ghost , souls and
demons.
2. Polytheism – this belief in two or more gods due to the dreams ,fantasies ,and imaginations of
the people .
3. Monotheism - it is called the belief in one Eternal God which is now dominated in the whole
world.

Two theories under Monotheism ;

1. Historical Particularism Theory (CA. 1900- 1940) – this was championed by American
Anthropologist Franz boas in early 1990s.
2. British Functionalism theory (CA 1920-1950) – by functionalist Bronislaw Malinowski, a British
famous in anthropological work because of his magnificent ethnographies of a Pacific people
known as the Trobriand Islanders.

-The basic tenet of Functionalism was that the cultural features of the people should be explained by
the functions they perform . By functions ,it meant how existing ideas and actions contribute to the well-
being of individuals and to the persistence of the whole group of society .

- Malinowski believed that the whole purpose of a culture is to save the biological and psychological
needs of its members .