Anthropological Theory

Anthropological Theory

            During the initial years of anthropology, the current perception of anthropologists and the other existing scholars was that culture evolves or develops progressively and uniformly. Evolutionists built upon the success that Charles Darwin presented by his theory of evolution, but they did not draw inspiration from the central contribution of this idea of natural selection(Long & Chakvow). Instead, they opted to track how culture develops with time. In the same way, it is thought that species evolve into complex forms, cultures were also thought to increase progressively from simple states to complex states(Ingold, 2016). Previously, many scholars thought that most of the societies have the same series of stages that they pass through to arrive where they are today(Enke, 2018). It was thought that change principally originated from the culture and therefore development was determined internally. One of the theories in anthropology that explains the existence of culture exhaustively is social evolution, which is addressed in the foregoing paragraphs.

Since the enlightenment, people accepted the evolutionary progression of societies. Both Scottish and French moral and social philosophers used evolutionary schemes in the 18^th century. The Montesquieu, for instance, proposed an evolutionary scheme that consisted of three primary stages. Savagery or hunting, barbarism or herding, and civilization. It was a tripartite division that became popular in the 19^th century, among the social theorists(Long & Chakvow). Figures like Morgan and Tylor adopted some of the versions in this scheme. By the mid 19^th century, the Europeans managed to explore, conquer, and colonize many countries in the world. The global movement therein causes noble people and products who had different lifestyles from that of the Europeans to be proved scientifically and politically problematic(Ingold, 2016). Anthropology arose widely in a bid to respond to the encounter that existed between the cultures of the different societies.

Cultural evolution, which was the first systematic ethnological theory of cultural evolution intended to explain this diversity that spread across people in the world. The perception of apportioning the ethnological record into the evolutionary stages, which ranged from primitive to civilized aided in the new ideas of the social evolutionists in the 19^th century(Enke, 2018). From the thought of Enlightenment, the work of Darwin, as well as the new cross-cultural, archaeological, and historical evidence, a generation of evolutionary theorists like Morgan and Tylor emerged(Long & Chakvow). They came up with rival schemes of overall cultural and social progress and the origins of various institutions like family, marriage, and religion..

For Tylor, he did not agree with the contention that some early French and English writers in the 19^th century presented. Indigenous people like American Indians represented cultural degeneration(Enke, 2018). Tylor believed that as much as people were in different locations, they had the equal ability to develop and progress through different stages that they would go through(Long & Chakvow). The groups that were considered primitive had attained their position through learning, and they did not wish to unlearn. Tylor stated that culture evolves from simplicity to complexity(Ingold, 2016). He also insisted that all societies have to pass through the three primary stages of development that Montesquieu suggested.

Early evolutionists like Tylor accounted for cultural variation by postulating that contemporary societies will always be at different stages of evolution. There is no single time that all of them will be in one stage. From this perception, it means that people who are considered to live simple lives have not reached higher stages(Long & Chakvow). Therefore, simpler contemporary societies represented ancient societies. Advanced societies indicated the existence of cultural evolution through survivals, as Tylor called it, and they are the traces of earlier customs that have survived in the cultures of the present day(Enke, 2018). A good example is pottery, which still exits. In the ancient days, people used clay to make their pots. In recent days, pots are made from metal, which I more durable, but some people still prefer dishes that are made of clay.

According to Tylor, there existed psychic unity in everyone who explained parallel sequences in evolution, in the different cultural traditions. There are primary resemblances in the mental framework of everyone, and therefore, different societies have the same solution to a problem that they all face(Ingold, 2016). Tylor also found out that the cultural traits of one society can spread to the other through simple diffusion. In other words, one culture can borrow a trait that belongs to the other when they interact through any form of contact(Long & Chakvow). These early evolutionary schemes have proved to be unilineal. It means that the sequence of stages in existence depicts that all groups have to pass through a certain point at a certain time. Although, the pace that each group will present is not the same, and the stages will vary accordingly(Ingold, 2016). Both past and present groups, which are in the same stage of development or the same level are nearly identical.

Therefore, from the anthropological theories, evolution is distinct as it explains the existence of various cultures. It explains why some cultures are considered to be more advanced while others are less advanced. Different anthropologists have come out to give their explanation regarding the same, and they have pointed out that cultures cannot be in the same stage at the same time, and if they are, then they are identical. From Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, it is clear that just as there exits the theory of evolution, so does culture evolve.

References

Enke, B. (2018). Kinship systems, cooperation, and the evolution of culture.

Ingold, T. (2016). Evolution and social life. Routledge.

Long, H. & Chakvow, K. Anthropological Theories: Social Evolutionism. Retrieved from             https://anthropology.ua.edu/theory/social-      evolutionism/#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20to%20note,these%20stages%20will%20  vary%20greatly.