Anthropology Optional (Anthropological Theories) by Sourabh Mishra

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss the contribution of Classical evolutionists- Morgan and Tylor to anthropological thoughts.

Introduction:

The changes are taking place in the manifold aspects of culture including, technology, economy, social institutions, art, and literature. Differences of opinion exist among anthropologists regarding the evolution of culture. These differences in perception led to multiple theories of cultural evolution. All the theories related to cultural evolution are collectively known as cultural evolutionism in Anthropology.

Cultural Evolution may be defined as a process by which different successive forms in the socio-cultural institution or culture of humankind are developed over different periods of time.

Classical Evolutionism:

• The main proponents of classical evolutionism are E B Tylor, James Frazer, R Marret, L H Morgan, J J Bachofen, and Adolf Bastian. They are also known as unilineal evolutionists as they believed that human culture evolved in unilineal sequence, stage after stage, simple to complex.
• The evolutionists assumed that cultural parallels or cultural similarities come into existence due to the psychic unity of humankind, suggesting that human minds share similar characteristics all over the world and react and think in similar ways in similar environmental conditions.

Features of Classical Evolutionism:

•   Human culture as a whole or social-cultural institutions evolve in unilineal sequence, stage after stage- savagery, barbarism, and civilization.
•   The direction of cultural evolution is from simple to complex, from similarity to dissimilarity, from indefinite to definite, and from homogeneity to heterogeneity.
•   Different stages of evolution can be established by the historical method and the comparative method.
•   Similarities in culture or cultural traits are caused by the psychic unity of humankind and parallel inventions.
•   At the higher stage of culture, certain remains of the earlier stages can be traced, which are termed as cultural survivals. Such remains reveal the conditions of the earlier stages of human culture.

British Classical Evolutionism: E B Tylor (1832-1917):

•   E B Tylor talked about the unilineal form of cultural growth. Hence he was called a unilineal evolutionist.
•   Unilineal evolution means human culture evolved in a unilineal sequence, stage after stage, simple to complex.
•   Accordingly, human culture has developed through the stages of savagery to barbarism, and finally to civilization.

Savagery à Barbarism à Civilisation

• Tylor is called the father of modern anthropology for his contribution to the concept of culture.
• He gave the classical definition of culture in his book Primitive Culture (1871): “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.
• The basic idea underlying Tylor’s theory was the continuity of culture in the process of its development from previous stages to the succeeding stages.
• Humanity as a whole passed through the process of cultural evolution from a primitive, pre-historic stage to the middle stage and finally to a more advanced civilized stage, which has now been attained in our world.

Stone Age à Bronze Age à Iron Age

•   Tylor opined that Animism (belief in soul) was the earliest form of religion from which Polytheism and the present stage of Monotheism have developed.

Magic à Religion à Science

•   According to Tylor, the evolution of material culture has developed from the stone age, the bronze age, and finally the Iron Age.

James Frazer views, that all societies progress through three successive stages of evolution. These are magic, religion, and science. The primitive human was unaware of things happening around them. They believed magic can control everything including nature.

American Classical Evolutionism: L H Morgan (1818–1881)

•   L H Morgan, in his book Ancient Society (1877), classified the development of culture into three major periods. They are savagery, barbarism, and civilization.
•   The first two periods are again sub-divided into lower, middle, and upper periods. These ethnic periods and their subdivisions were defined by the following sequence of technological developments.
•   Morgan studied in detail the Iroquois Indian, which was published in the book League of the Iroquois (1851).
•   While he was inquiring into the rules of descent, he was struck by their system of naming the kins. An Iroquois child called one's mother's sister “mother”, father’s brother as “father”, grandmother’s sister as “grandmother”, and so on.
•   Children of two or more sisters called each other ‘brother” and “sister”. Morgan called this a classificatory kinship system contrasting it with the “descriptive system” in which the terms of address reveal the exact relationship.

Further, he received the information that the Tamils in India used a classificatory system, which led Morgan to conclude that the American Indian tribes were of Asiatic origin.

Conclusion:

Classical evolutionists are classified into two - classical evolutionists and neo-evolutionists. The main proponents of classical evolutionism are E B Tylor, James Frazer, R R Marret, L H Morgan, J J Bachofen and Adolf Bastian. They are also known as unilineal evolutionists and the culture of humankind is developed over different periods of time.

Question #2. What do you mean by 'cultural ecology’? Evaluate how Julian Steward’s particularistic approach is helpful in understanding multi-lineal evolution.

Introduction:

Cultural ecology is the study of human adaptations to social and physical environments. Human adaptation refers to both biological and cultural processes that enable a population to survive and reproduce within a given or changing environment.

Human society and associated cultural ecology:

•   Human society is deeply influenced by places of habitation, enriched by different natural resources such as land, water, air, forests, river, and the sea.
•   People living in a particular region adapt themselves to the ecology of that place. The food habits, dwellings, apparel, and culture of the coastal people are different from those of the desert people.
•   A process of conflict, control, and adaptation goes on between humans and the environment. Humans regulate the environment with the help of their intelligence and skills and come out with new inventions and lifestyles.

Characteristics and examples of Cultural ecology:

• Cultural ecology is the study of human adaptations to social and physical environments. Human adaptation refers to both biological and cultural processes that enable a population to survive and reproduce within a given or changing environment.
• For example, many people connect Adobe-style housing with the Southwest and the native American culture that once thrived there. The home, while a symbol of the culture, is a prime example of cultural ecology. The people who built the homes did so with the purpose of surviving the hot, dry climate.
• The relationship between ecology and culture was very well described by Julian Steward, a famous American anthropologist. He proposes the concept of Cultural Ecology in which he examines how culture and ecology are interrelated.

Julian Steward’s particularistic approach - Multilinear Evolution:

•   Multilinear evolutionists are interested in particular cultures. Julian Steward belongs to the group of multilinear evolutionists.
•   Steward was of the opinion that all cultures of the world have not passed through the same developmental stages, rather their stages were different in different areas.
•   For e.g., the sequence of cultural development in ice areas, desert areas, forest areas, and plain areas are different due to different environmental conditions.
•   Steward’s theories are presently regarded as examples of specific and multilinear evolution, where cross-cultural regularities exist due to the presence of similar environments.
•   Steward specified three steps in the investigation of the cultural ecology of a society:

1. 1. Describing the natural resources and the technology used to extract and process them.
   2. Outlining the social organization of work for these subsistence and economic activities.
   3. Tracing the influence of these two phenomena on other aspects of culture.

Conclusion:

In order to study the interaction between environment and culture, he proposed the method of cultural ecology. According to him, various stages in the evolution of different cultures are not uniform throughout the world.