SOCIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION

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I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THE DISCCUSSION OF SOCIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION AND
HAVE THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS:

1. FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND SOCIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION HANDICAPS SOCIAL AND
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS WHEN THEY HAVE TO DEAL WITH COMPLEX SOCIETIES
AS WHOLES. THEY HAVE MOSTLY STEERED AWAY FROM THIS CONSEQUENTLY.

ERE2. BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION SHOULD NOT BE
CONSIDered the same. They are distinct phenomena. Hallpike gives an
excellent explanation of why this is so.

3. Evolution is not simple development but development that is
directional -- that is, toward greater complexity. My personal
definition of social evolution is the development of a greater
complexity of the structure of society, not the content. My personal
definition of scultural evolution is development toward a greater
complexity of the structure of knowledge or ideas. Content can be
complex with or without structural complexity, but it is complexity
that allows for a greater concentration of resources, both social and
cultural that accounts for the proliferation of ideas and parts that
distinguishes sociocultural evolution. The stuff of culture does not
evolve per se.

4. Certain principles are not subject to acceptance or rejection but
merely discovery. The early evolutionists were studying a phenomena
that actually existed, even if they did not completely understand it
or viewed it through their ethnocentric lenses. There is a difference
between studying the history of how an idea arises and determining
whether the idea is related to real, ie. external phenomena that can
be discovered by anyone given the opportunity. Sociocultural
evolution is such a phenomenon.

5. Taking sociocultural evolution seriously led Robert Carneiro to
his theory of circumscription, which is one of the most impressive
theories that anthropology has produced in years. Perhaps
anthropologists should get over their shyness of "big" theory and take
some risks.

6. Perhaps we should consider that constructing reality and
construing it are two processes that both occur with human beings.
All ideas are not made up out of thin air.


Please excuse the garbage in this message. I am using a different
computer and couldn't figure out how to get rid of it.

Susan Love Brown

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