Leslie White
(1900-1975, United States)
Leslie White developed the theory of cultural evolution, which was ignored by most anthropologists at that time. White’s attempts to restore the evolutionary topic started in the 1920s, when he was impressed by Morgan’s model and logic of his evolutionary theory. White decided that whatever problems the theory had, it could not be dismissed. His main contribution was that he provided scientific insights to the evolution of culture. He created a formula that measures the degree of cultural development.
First, White divided culture into three components: technological, sociological and ideological, and argued that the technological aspect is the basis of cultural evolution. The technological aspect is composed of material, mechanical, physical and chemical instruments, as well as the way people use these techniques. White’s argument on the importance of technology goes as follows:
- Technology is an attempt to solve the problems of survival.
- This attempt ultimately means capturing enough energy and diverting it for human needs.
- Societies that capture more energy and use it more efficiently have an advantage over other societies.
- Therefore, these different societies are more
advanced in an evolutionary sense.
Based on the logics above, White expressed the degree of cultural
development by the formula: E x T = C. In this method, E is the amount of energy harnessed per capita per
year, T shows the efficiency of the tools used for exploiting the energy,
and C represents the degree of cultural development. Presenting this measurement,
White asserted that developing effective control over energy is the prime
cause of cultural evolution.
As shown in his theory of cultural evolution, White believed that culture has general laws of its own. Based on these universal principles, culture evolves by itself. Therefore, an anthropologist’s task is to discover those principles and explain the particular phenomena of culture. He called this approach culturology, which attempts to define and predict cultural phenomena by understanding general patterns of culture.
Sources:
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Barfield, Thomas. 1996 The Dictionary of Anthropology. Malden: Blackwell.
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Moore, Jerry D. 1997 Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.
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Winters, Christopher. International Dictionary of Anthropologists. New York