UNIT 3

• Unilineal Evolutionism: the idea that all societies have to go through a series of stages to reach civilization. From most primitive to most civilized (evolutionary scale)
• C.J Thomsen’s “Three-Age System”

  1. Stone Age
  2. Bronze Age
  3. Iron Age
• Lewis Henry Morgan’s “Ethical Stages”

  1. Savagery
  2. Barbarism
  3. Civilization
• What is an example of a line drawn between barbarism and civilization according to Lewis Morgan?

  The invention of phonetic alphabet
• Structural Functionalism: the idea that all societies function as organisms; that they have different subdivisions and different functions and are tied together through economic, political, and religious institutions.
• What is the focus of structural functionalism?


  how a particular part of the society function/work with the other parts
• What did structural functionalism lead to?

  the treatment of social groups as static and homogenous and the overlooking of potential of agency on individuals
• Historical Particularism: the idea that each culture needs to be understood as a product of its own unique history.
• Why was historical Particularism developed?

  in response to and as a challenge to unilineal evolutionism
• What did historical particularism lead to?

  the development of the ideal of cultural relativism
• Historical Particularism:

  societies often develop the similar forms of social organization through different and varied historical trajectories.