Evolutionism

Category: Theoretical approaches

This article is focused on evolutionary theories that were developed by sociologists and anthropologists in the 19th and at the start of the 20th century. For the evolutionary theories in social sciences that come into being after The Second World War, there are two articles in this encyclopedia. Approaches that are focused on the biological basis of social, cultural, and behavioral human patterns are presented in the article Sociobiology and approaches that focus on the socio-cultural evolution of humans are presented in the article Sociocultural Evolutionism (Cultural Ecology)

Herbert Spencer

The beginning of the use of evolutionism in social sciences is closely linked with the work and ideas of Herbert Spencer. Spencer formulated the universal law of evolution: "Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite incoherent homogeneity to a definite coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation." ( Spencer, 1862). Spencer applied this view of evolution to all phenomena, both inorganic and biological species, but also to the development of human society, which he calls „super-organic“ matter. Spencer developed his theory of biological evolution independently, even before Charles Darwin did so.

Spencer applied the rules of universal evolution to the development of society and culture, and he drew a parallel between biological and social evolution. Spencer divides the factors that influence the evolution of all societies into primary and secondary factors (conditions). The primary factors may be external, therefore, outside the society itself, and these are the configuration of the land and the surrounding flora and fauna in the territory in which a society lives. Internal primary factors (factors within society itself) are the physical characteristics of individuals (strength, endurance), as well as the mental characteristics of individuals - their emotional character, intelligence, and way of thinking. Secondary factors of social evolution are diverse: 1) modifications that societies make to their inorganic environment (climate, soil) and the organic environment (flora and fauna); 2) factors resulting from the increase of members of society (a division of labor, increase of heterogeneity, integration, specialization, interdependence, control, etc.); 3) other societies (super-organic environment); 4) factors related to the development of culture (technology, language, science, religion, aesthetics, etc.).

Spencer believed that every society must achieve three fundamental "functional needs" for their survival and those are: operative - providing the resources necessary for survival; reproduction - the creation of new members; regulatory - coordination and control (through the power and cultural symbols); and distributive - distribution of resources, products, people and information. These functional needs are fulfilled by specialized social structures. Spencer even states that all social structures, whatever needs they fulfill in the larger society, have their own operative, regulatory and distributive needs. The challenges that exist in the environment and within society itself, and which relate to meeting these functional needs in a society, are the most important sources of selection pressures that guide social evolution and influence the creation of new structures.

Picture 1. Factors of social evolution.

Evolutionary Stages of Society

Spencer made a classification of the evolutionary stages that societies go through, where every stage has a separate level of complexity: 1) simple without head (head means leader of the chief) societies (hunter-gatherers); 2) simple with head societies 3) compound societies (nomadic animal husbandry and horticulture); 3 doubly compound societies (agrarian societies) and 4) trebly compound societies (industrial societies). Based on data on modern hunter-gatherer tribes, Spencer concluded that there was homogeneity in the original "barbarian" tribes and that all individuals of the same sex performed all functions, with the only gender division of labor. The fear of death among people in these societies was a source of religious beliefs. With the appearance of nomadic tribes, which number over a hundred members, power relations are formed for the first time because the power of the chief appears, but even then the chief performs all tasks like other members of society. At this level of development, wars with other societies play a particularly important role in social evolution, because they can lead to the increase of society by subjugating other societies or they can lead to the complete destruction or subjugation of society. Successful warfare requires the establishment of a central military command by the warlord. In primitive groups, war actions are occasional, so the government is temporary.

When one tribe becomes militarily strong enough to be able to permanently subjugate other tribes, a supreme chief appears, who rules the lower chiefs, and members of the conquered tribes work as slave labor for members of the conquering tribe. With the numerical and territorial increase of the society, the war becomes more frequent and the government becomes permanent, so the temporary military administration transforms into a permanent civilian administration. When complex societies unite with similar complex societies or subdue them militarily, the supreme power of the king, local rulers, and separate classes (military, priestly, and slave) emerges. Spencer calls this level of social evolution a "militant type of society." This type of society is characterized by a great centralization of the administrative system and the development of despotic power. In addition, in militant societies, women and those who perform physical work have very low status, while military work has a high reputation. Social mobility is very small, and the position of an individual is determined by the class in which he or she was born. Economic policy is protectionist, it strives for economic autarchy, while entrepreneurship is limited and constrained.

The transition from the militant to a new type of society mostly depends on favorable external factors, primarily on the possibility of establishing peaceful relations between neighboring countries. When such favorable external conditions are met, and when there is a large enough number of members of society, and the complexity of society is sufficiently pronounced, then there is the economic development of society. This enables the division of labor and the development of trade, which leads to the differentiation and specialization of functions within society. These processes necessarily lead to increased coordination within society. The division of labor, increased coordination between functions, and increased heterogeneity, together lead to increased interdependence of parts and increasing integration of society.

With further economic development, the integration and coordination of society increase even more, because the division of labor in the primary and secondary sectors becomes geographically localized and specialized, which conditions further improvement of communication and traffic systems, all leading to increase in trade and special trade classes. At this stage of evolution, a new type of society emerges, which Spencer calls the "industrial type of society." The industrial type of society is characterized by voluntary cooperation through trade, decentralization of the administrative system, democratic and independent governing body, and reduction of political control over personal behavior. In industrial society, the reputation of the military profession is decreasing, along with the reduction of international hostilities, aggression, and crime in the whole society, while work (earning from one's own work) is beginning to be valued more and more.

Increased complexity of the structures of society leads to the creation of specific institutions, each of which has a defined and specialized function. The main social institutions are: family, ceremonial, political, church, professional, and economic. Spencer showed that the physical and social environment of a society has an impact on the shape of family institutions. Polyandry develops when the physical and biological environment creates a constraint on economic production, so the marriage of one woman to several men prevents excessive demographic growth. In situations when the society is surrounded by other societies with which it is in constant war, polygyny becomes dominant, because it enables the birth of a large number of children and solves the gender disparity caused by the deaths of men in wars. Domestic institutions have a crucial role to play in shaping and regulating the private behavior of individuals. Ceremonial, political, and ecclesiastical institutions, on the other hand, regulate the public behavior of individuals. If the pace is social evolution is slow enough, over time these institutions become sufficiently specialized and coherent, very rigid and resistant to change, even in moments when external circumstances affect their change.

Spencer views the evolution of both societies and cultures as a spontaneous process. The evolution of a system is a random consequence of the interaction of that system with its own environment, as well as the processes that take place within the system itself. This process of evolution is spontaneous and there are uncertainties in its entire course, that is, the evolution of a system does not follow any predetermined deterministic flow. Dissolution is the opposite of evolution. In developed societies, dissolution occurs either due to an attack by another state or due to internal processes. Revolts and revolutions within society lead to a decline in political and economic integration and coordination and this leads to the dissolution of society.

Edward Tylor

British anthropologist Edward Tylor studied the evolution of primitive cultures. He interpreted all specific cultural patterns as devised by the conscious thought processes of human beings. He viewed culture and its institutions utilitarianly because they always serve practical purposes. On the other hand, he believed that human institutions are independent, sui generis systems because they are maintained by the power of custom. Religion is an attempt to understand and explain life, death, and natural processes. Tylor advocated a progressionist view, according to which all societies and institutions go through a gradual and natural process of development, and various cultures represent different stages of development along that line of evolutionary progress. He used the comparative method because various human institutions resemble each other all over the world, so we can interpret them as a certain evolutionary stage, separated from the concrete ethnographic context.

Charles Darwin

British biologist Charles Darwin is regarded as the father of evolutionary thought that started with the publication of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859). In this book, he didn't study the evolution of the human race. By the time of the publication of his book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871); Darwin's first book that explores the evolution of humans and their culture, other authors had already published books on that topic - Herbert Spencer (First Principles published in 1862, and Principles of Biology, 2 vols. published in 1864 and 1867); Edward Tylor (Researches Into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, 1865), and John Lubbock (Pre-Historic Times, As Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages published in 1865, and The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man, published in 1870). Darwin inspired all these authors but was also inspired by them in writing The Descent of Man (1871).

Lewis H. Morgan

American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan tried, by connecting kinship systems, types of marriage, types of political organization, forms of property, and stages of technical development, to give a general account of the evolution of mankind. He believes that before civilization, humanity went through epochs of savagery and barbarism, each with three successive stages (lower, middle, and higher). A progressivist like Tylor, Morgan delineates the stages according to technological criteria that affect the development of other aspects. Morgan believes that some culture's current kinship classification actually represents the type of family that previously existed in that culture. In the evolution of the family, he believes that first there was primitive promiscuity, then there was the consanguine family, then the Punualuan family, after that came the patriarchal family, and finally comes the monogamous family. Morgan studied in great detail the ethnographic material relating to the classification of kinship and the organization of tribes into clans.

James Mark Baldwin

American psychologist, philosopher, and sociologist James Mark Baldwin applied evolutionary principles in the study of psychology. He made a great contribution to the foundation of developmental psychology, and his theories influenced the developmental psychology of Jean Piaget. He viewed the development of the self as a process between the self and the outside world. Baldwin saw the processes of "ejection", "adaptation" and "imitation" as key to building the self. He viewed race as a social category, not as a consequence of biological differences.

Franklin Giddings

American sociologist Franklin Giddings was influenced by Comte's positivism and Herbert Spencer's social Darwinism. Giddings is best known for the concept of "consciousness of kind", which he developed from the concept of "sympathy" of Adam Smith. People first strive to adapt their environment to themselves, and later to adapt themselves to the environment. People close to them act similarly, so there arises an idea of the similarity between external and internal stimuli. The resemblance is maintained by imitation and compassion. The consciousness of the kind arises from this similarity and represents organic compassion, love, and the desire for recognition. The consciousness of kind represents a common moral reaction and forms the basis of the state and society.

Benjamin Kidd

British sociologist Benjamin Kidd, in the book Social Evolution (1894), states that the coercion of the group is the basic source of social progress, that is, evolution; while, on the other hand, the freedom of the individual has always endangered the survival of society. The individual is guided by his reason, which comes into conflict with the socializing forces of social organizations. It follows that the survival of society depends on supranational factors, the most important of which is religion. Religion serves the interests of the social organism, because it encourages the birth rate and readiness of the individual, through social sanctions, to submit to the social organization.

Kidd takes over Spencer's distinction between militaristic and industrial-type societies. The Greeks and Romans had a militaristic type of society, dominated by aristocratic organization and slavery, which stifled social selection and led to decay. Christianity has led to a resurgence of social progress. It introduced an "ultra-rational" sanction for unsocial behavior, while, on the other hand, it created an altruistic ethic. This led to the emancipation of the masses and the selective struggle between individuals within a society. Protestantism was an economic revolt of the rising middle class, but it also led to expansive altruism that gave political, economic, and social rights to the masses. Kidd's approach to evolution, which emphasizes the balance between the struggle for survival and altruism, is also visible in his attitude towards the economy - capitalism should survive, but the state should manage the economy to ensure real and fair competition in the market.

Cesare Lombroso

Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso was heavily influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution and Herbert Spencer's theory of social evolution. Lombroso, together with his younger associates Enrico Ferri and Raffaele Garofalo, is considered one of the founders of Italian and world criminology. Lombroso was very attached to the positivist method and measurements, so, for the sake of researching his theory, he made extensive measurements of the body and face dimensions of hundreds of criminals and members of the general population. In the book Criminal Man (2006, in Italian 1876), he concludes that free will does not have a great influence on criminal behavior, but that such behavior is a product of evolutionary atavism that creates primitive or sub-human nature in individuals. These individuals are characterized by a specific shape of the head and bone structure, a tendency towards slang, tattoos, and vices, and all these features form the basis of a criminal personality. In addition to this group of born criminals, Lombroso singled out a group of occasional or accidental criminals. There are three sub-groups of criminals in this group: random criminals, criminals who are that because of their social ties to born criminals, and "criminaloids" who are only partially biologically degenerate.

Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin In the book Mutual Aid (1902), presents the evolutionary theory of cooperation and solidarity in social animals. He concluded that mutual aid exists in all of the most successful species and that mutual aid is the most important factor in evolution. The struggle for survival takes place, above all, in relation to other species, and not within the species. The species that have the greatest cooperation and mutual support between its members will have the greatest chances of survival and advancement. Mutual assistance leads to several positive effects in any species - increasing the ability of individuals to reach old age and accumulate experience, which leads to greater intellectual development and increases in the size and scope of social behavior, which, together, gives greater chances for survival and development. Both biological and social progress is achieved, mostly, through mutual support and cooperation, and not through conflicts and struggles. Social behavior originated, in the evolutionary sense, before the emergence of man, so man is naturally adapted to live in society without additional rules and regulations. Traditional societies, which lived in clans and tribes, possessed customs and taboos that ensured cooperation and mutual assistance between members of those societies.

For the evolutionary theories of Alfred Espinas, Paul von Lilienfeld, and René Worms see the article Organicism.

For the evolutionary theories of Ludwig Gumplowicz, William Graham Sumner, Franz Oppenheimer, Gustav Ratzenhofer, and Frank Lester Ward see the article Social Darwinism

Other notable authors who were proponents of early evolutionism are: Walter Bagehot, Enrico Ferri, John Fiske, Alfred Fouille, Jacob Alexandrovitch Novikov, Albert Schaffle, Michelangelo Vaccaro, Francis Galton, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Thomas Henry Huxley.

Books:

Baldwin, James Mark. Development and Evolution (1902);

Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859);

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871);

Giddings, Franklin Henry. The Principles of Sociology (1896);

- The Theory of Socialization (1897);

Gumplowicz, Ludwig. Outlines of Sociology (2020, in German 1885);

Kidd. Benjamin. Social Evolution (1894);

Lubbock, John. Pre-Historic Times, As Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages (1865)

- The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man (1870);

Morgan, Henry Lewis. Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871);

- Ancient Society (1877);