Chapter 12 Theory in Cultural Anthropology by Lavenda
19 th Century Approaches
Unilineal cultural evolutionism—generally regarded as the first theoretical perspective to take root in the discipline of anthropology a relationship of society advancement though a series of progressive stages. In this theory, people believed cultures develop under one universal order of society evolution. First originating from the mid-nineteenth century philosopher Herbert Spencer, Unilineal Evolution classified the differences and similarities of cultures by categorizing them into three chronological phases of growth: savagery, barbarism, and civilization. This was the main premise of the early anthropologists who believed that Western civilization was the peak of communal evolution.
Biological Determinism-- scientific racism, for it claimed to have empiricalevidence that supported both the existence of biologically distinct human populations, or races, and the relative rankings of these races on a scale of superiority and inferiority. --- biological differences between different human populations explained their different ways of life or, put another way, that a group's way of life was determined by its distinct, innate biological makeup.
Early 20th Century Approaches
As the twentieth century began, German anthropologists were offering a very different uni- versal theory of culture change, based on the supposedly regular spread of various cultural items from group to group by diffusion, or borrowing.
Boas challenged the 2 forms of reductionism
Boas agreed that cultures changed over time, but such change could not be confined to passage through a single sequence of progressive evolutionary stages. Rather, historical evidence showed that cultures simplified over time, instead of becomig more complex, and in any case could easily skip stages by b orrowing advanced' cultural inventions from their neighbors. Similarly, although cultures are full of cultural items or activities, called cul- ture traits, borrowed from
Unilineal cultural evolutionism—generally regarded as the first theoretical perspective to take root in the discipline of anthropology a relationship of society advancement though a series of progressive stages. In this theory, people believed cultures develop under one universal order of society evolution. First originating from the mid-nineteenth century philosopher Herbert Spencer, Unilineal Evolution classified the differences and similarities of cultures by categorizing them into three chronological phases of growth: savagery, barbarism, and civilization. This was the main premise of the early anthropologists who believed that Western civilization was the peak of communal evolution.
Biological Determinism-- scientific racism, for it claimed to have empiricalevidence that supported both the existence of biologically distinct human populations, or races, and the relative rankings of these races on a scale of superiority and inferiority. --- biological differences between different human populations explained their different ways of life or, put another way, that a group's way of life was determined by its distinct, innate biological makeup.
Early 20th Century Approaches
As the twentieth century began, German anthropologists were offering a very different uni- versal theory of culture change, based on the supposedly regular spread of various cultural items from group to group by diffusion, or borrowing.
Boas challenged the 2 forms of reductionism
Boas agreed that cultures changed over time, but such change could not be confined to passage through a single sequence of progressive evolutionary stages. Rather, historical evidence showed that cultures simplified over time, instead of becomig more complex, and in any case could easily skip stages by b orrowing advanced' cultural inventions from their neighbors. Similarly, although cultures are full of cultural items or activities, called cul- ture traits, borrowed from