Unilineal Cultural Evolution Essay

Anthropology appeared as a distinct field of study during the nineteenth century. Europe’s successful efforts in geographical exploration, and the colonization of the America facilitated public intrigue regarding the relationship between human evolution, nature and culture. Early anthropological theory was highly concerned with the classification of cultures and peoples along a static, evolutionary timeline, ascending from savagery to barbarism, and finally to civilization, typified by European society at the time. This concept, associated with Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan, respectively, is known as unilineal cultural evolution. Unilineal cultural evolution is characterized by the supposition that all societies pass through the same sequences in their cultural odyssey to the ‘pinnacle’ of civilization. While early classical Evolutionist anthropology spawned the comparative method, as well as the first definition of culture, described by Tylor as “a complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society,” (1873, (1985) 30) it is overall, inadequate and ineffective. Lack of first hand field observation and participation by the anthropologist, a Eurocentric …show more content…
She recognized that individual behavior “…exemplifies the motivations of that culture.” (1934 (1985) 147). She investigated how personalities adapt or fail to adapt to cultural norms; and through her fieldwork, Benedict was able to observe “The dilemma of the individual whose congenial drives are not provided for in the institutions of his culture.” (1934 (1985) 152) Benedict evaluated the role of eccentricity within a society, and she observed that every society possessed a unique set of values and norms. Her work emphasized the importance of “cultural relativity” in the field of