Lewis Henry Morgan
(1818-1881, United States)
Lewis Henry Morgan is a unilineal evolutionist who claimed that societies develop according to one universal order of cultural evolution. Morgan was fascinated with the Native American tribe Iroquois and gathered information on their customs, language and other aspects of the culture.
Through his study of the Iroquois and other Native American tribes, Morgan became interested in kinship systems in different societies. He distributed questionnaires to missionaries and travelers in order to collect information about kinship terms from people all over the world. Based on the result of the questionnaires, Morgan posited that all kinship systems in the world could be divided into two large groups: descriptive systems and classificatory systems. Descriptive systems distinguish lineal relatives and collateral kin. For example, English, which falls into one of the descriptive systems, distinguishes “father” and “father’s brother” by giving different terms, “father” and “uncle” respectively. In contrast, classificatory systems treat lineal and collateral kin as if they belong to the same category. Although classificatory systems distinguish generation and gender, they use the same term for “father” and “father’s brother,” or for “mother” and “mother’s sister.”
Morgan explained these two different kinship systems by presenting the evolutionary theory of human family structure. He argued that human family structures evolve from promiscuous intercourse to monogamy. In the “most primitive” stage, sexual behavior is not regulated and individuals do not know who their fathers are. Some societies with classificatory systems fall into this stage, where people use one general term to categorize their father and the father’s brothers, or their mother and the mother’s sisters. Morgan believed that “most civilized” family structure is patriarchal monogamy, where a male is the head of a married couple and their descent is reckoned in the male line. Some societies with descriptive systems fit in this stage, where people distinguish their parent and the parent’s siblings by using different terms.
In addition to examining the evolution of the family structure, Morgan surveyed technological, economic, political, and religious conditions throughout the world. Morgan believed in a hierarchy of evolutionary development from “savagery” to “barbarism” to “civilization.” According to Morgan, the crucial distinction between civilized society and earlier societies is private property. He described “savage” societies as communistic, contrasting with “civilized” societies, which are based on private property.
Although Morgan’s theory has been criticized for being speculative and ethnocentric, his evolutionary theory influenced the development of anthropology. First, Morgan outlined the importance of the study of kinship systems for understanding the social organizations. Second, Morgan conducted cross-cultural research that attempted to be systematic and large-scale. Finally, Morgan organized anthropological data and formulated the evolutionary theory rather than simply collecting cultural data.
Biography of Lewis Henry Morgan
Sources:
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McGee, R. Jon and Richard L. Warms. 2004 Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. New York: McGraw Hill.
- Moore, Jerry D. 1996 Visions of Culture : An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.