Evolution, Adaptation, and Historical Particularism

Theories of Cultural Change ANTH 2301 Evolution, Adaptation, and Historical Particularism The beginnings of human cultural forms and their long-term evolution are topics of interest for certain anthropologists. Many anthropologists of the 19th century utilised the theory of evolution to explain how civilizations evolved over time, just as Charles Darwin did to explain how biological species changed over time. We refer to this method as cultural evolutionism. These anthropologists shared Darwin's belief that basic forms gave rise to more sophisticated ones. They compared various civilizations from throughout the world, placing those they deemed more primitive in earlier evolutionary stages and those they deemed more sophisticated in later stages. British anthropologist Edward Tylor, for instance, made the case that human culture progressed from barbarism to civilization from savagery. He considered those who relied on hunting and gathering for their fundamental necessities to be barbaric. The practice of domesticating plants and animals was linked to barbarism. The invention of the alphabet and more sophisticated methods of agriculture, commerce, and manufacture led to the rise of civilization. British researchers identified their own culture as highly civilised, which is not unexpected. American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan expanded on Tylor's plan by breaking down each of these three stages into an even more complex model and suggesting a way to go from one step to the next. Morgan concentrated on technology as the main force behind the development of culture. According to Morgan, new and improved methods of production led to new social practices and ways of thinking. superior civilizations were thought to possess superior technologies. Is technology, however, the best or even the sole indicator of cultural achievement? People who live in communities where hunting and gathering are the primary means of subsistence possess a wealth of environmental knowledge. They can typically identify hundreds of plant species and provide information on when and where to locate each one. Many hunters are able to identify an animal's species, sex, age, condition, and time of occurrence by analysing its traces. In addition, members of these communities actively preserve and promote variety in their surroundings while taking care not to exhaust vital resources. Are we truly to consider these civilizations to be simple? All civilizations are intricate, but in unique ways. In American society, technology is highly regarded, while sustainability and environmental awareness have generally received less attention. Is it any surprise that among their own most valued ideals, early American anthropologists rated foreign cultures? People from more ecologically conscious civilizations can view the United States as an example of environmental barbarism. Like other anthropologists of the time, Tylor and Morgan believed that all societies went through this one set of stages on their way to becoming civilised. Unilineal evolution is the name given to this type of hypothesis. Anthropologists who disagreed with this style of thought included Franz Boas, who claimed that each culture evolves in accordance with its own distinct historical trajectory rather than that there is a single line of cultural history. Furthermore, cultures change constantly via interaction with one another rather than in isolation. Boas emphasised the spread of material goods, customs, and ideas across civilizations in intricate interactions of commerce, migration, and conquest rather than on technological developments inside a society. Even with the widespread abandonment of theories of unilineal cultural evolution, some anthropologists remain intrigued by the possibility of finding regular patterns that might dictate the long-term evolution of human societies. American anthropologist Julian Steward created the cultural ecology method in the 1950s, emphasising how humans adapt to different contexts and highlighting the significance of environmental influences. The Steward method demonstrated how people acquire a set of fundamental cultural traits that allow them to survive in each environmental zone. Methods for obtaining or producing all the resources required for human survival—especially food, clothes, and shelter—are fundamental to any cultural core. In a similar vein, anthropologist Marvin Harris created the idea known as "cultural materialism," which holds that economic and technological elements shape other aspects of society, including politics, religion, and family life. Many anthropologists reject the idea that all cultures develop in accordance with a general universal paradigm, such as cultural materialism, even if they acknowledge the significance of cultural change. Numerous cultural anthropologists use historical particularism to analyse change, a concept that stems from the Boasian idea that every culture has its unique historical trajectory. According to this method, modern processes are seen as the result of a certain confluence of internal and external factors that have developed throughout time in a certain culture.