Evolutionary Theory

Research Paper # 51938

Anthropology

Evolutionary Theory

An examination of the influence and role played by evolutionary thought in cultural anthropology.

3,061 words () | 17 sources | APA | 2003 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the idea that evolutionism is tied to an idea of primitive society that crystallized in the 1860?s and 1870?s. It discusses Darwin?s Origin of the Species which appeared in 1859 and how over the next two decades a plethora of books appeared about primitive society. It analyses how these books assumed a unilineal progression from ?primitive? society to modern society and how although these thinkers were called evolutionary, their thinking bore little resemblance to Darwinian evolutionist theory. It explores the thought of evolutionary anthropologists and attempts to discover the methodological and theoretic problems with their arguments. It also examines how evolutionary ideas are transmitted, in an attempt to discover the secret of the longevity.

From the Paper:

"One can note that way evolutionist schemata's are constructed as a gradual progression away from "nature" as constituted by the west. For instance, all primitive societies are based on kin, and in Morgan's scheme, it is only after the creation of the monogamous society that private property becomes a possibility. The postulation of an original type by evolutionist theorists is problematic now because such ideas are seen as mere speculation. Furthermore, we are aware that there is a heterogeneous mix of each group that the theorists took to be original types. One methodological criticism underlying all the theorists we will look at is that they took modern hunter-gatherer societies to be representative of prehistory, even though we are now aware they are dynamic societies shaped and changed by their contact with colonialism and agricultural society."