CHAPTER 5
Looking Back at Human
Biocultural and Social
Evolution
Growth Development of Society
Three Types of Evolution
1. Biological evolution
- Refers to the process whereby organisms
undergo various genetic and physical changes that
pave the way for biological diversity.
- According to Francisco Jose Ayala, a noted
Spanish-American biologist,
The theory of evolution in biology suggest that
“the various types of plants, animals, and other
living things on Earth have their origins in other
pre-existing types and the distinguishable
differences are due to modification in successive
generation.”
- Biological evolution continues to influence how
people live and interact with other members of
society.
2. Technological evolution
- Refers to the process where they learned to
create various tools and equipment for their
daily task such as planting crops, domesticating
animals, and trade.
3. Biocultural evolution
- Refers as “the mutual interactive evolution of
human biology and culture.”
- The concept focuses on the idea that “biology
makes culture possible and that the developing
culture further influences the direction of biological
evolution.
- Cultural development is interconnected with
people’s capacity for language, tool-making, and
technological innovation.
The Evolution of Social and
Political Institutions
Lewis Henry Morgan
In the 19th century, the anthropologist Lewis
Henry Morgan came up with an evolutionary
scheme that divided history into three stages:
1. Savage stage (Savagery)- is the lowest
stage of development which is exemplified
by nomadic and hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
2. Barbaric stage (Barbarism)- the middle
stage of development where people began
learning agricultural technique and the
domestication of animals.
3. Civilized stage (Civilization)- is the highest
stage of development where people
learned writing.
Friedrich Engels
- Used Morgan’s studies in developing a theory on
the origin of private property and the state.
- He postulated that the accumulation of private
property paved the way for the collapse of
primitive communities and the establishment of a
class-based society.
- He later collaborated with Karl Marx and they
came up with the perspective that social
institutions evolve primarily due to the struggle
between social classes over the means of
production such as wealth and private property.
Herbert Spencer
In the early 20th century, Herbert Spencer
applied Charles Darwin’s principles of
biological evolution to social evolution.
- For Spencer, individual members within societies
engage in a competition for survival whereby the
superior ones dominate those who are of the
inferior type.
- This idea, which was seen as a justification for
imperialism, was heavily criticized and paved the
way of emergence of a non-evolutionary
perspective in cultural anthropology.
- This perspective believes that society cannot be
classified according to definite stages of
development and that one society cannot claim to
be more “advance” than the other society.
- Each society and culture must be analyzed and
evaluated according to its own specific context and
the influence of outside factors. Such perspective
to be known as cultural relativism.
Cultural Relativism
- The notion that an individual’s attitude, beliefs,
and ideas are based on the cultural context of his
or her society.
-One society cannot claim to be “superior” than
other societies.
Franz Boas- argued that human behavior is
not rooted in biology but is socially
constructed.
Sociologist mainly subscribe to 2
different ideas regarding the origins
of social and political institution:
1. There are those who subscribe to the
idea that evolution occurs bases on “stage
of development” such as Morgan and
Engels.
2. There are those who subscribe to the
idea that one stage does not necessarily
precede or lead to another stage like Franz
Boas.
The evolution of human beings- has given
rise to the development of social
organizations from hunting-gathering
groups to agricultural communities and
industrial societies.
The development and changes in social
organization progressed over several
thousand years,
and were influenced by innovations and
changes to the human condition.
Band-level societies
- The earliest societies were comprised of
the hunter-gatherers
- They were basically small and nomadic
family groups and were plainly organized.
- These groups were believed to be highly
egalitarian nonhierarchical since distinction
were based
on age, sex, and division of labor was
natural.
- Leadership was based on qualities such as
strength, intelligence, and trustworthiness.
- The leader did not exercise power to
enforce rules and not given status in
society.
- Band-level societies were not considered
as political organization, because disputes
between bands were rare because they
lived far apart from one another.
Tribe
- This was more formal social organization
made up of several bands and groups what
were connected through a clan structure or
kinship.
- The leader of the tribe or the headman
was a more formal and established leader.
He had significant influence among the
tribes and was recognized as a person of
great importance.
- The headman took advantage of the
kinship ties among tribe members of the
tribe members to assert his authority and
power.
- The growth of tribe allowed them to
increasingly interact with one another,
leading to the establishment of a new
political organization, the chiefdom, which
consisted of tribes united under one leader
or chief.
- Within chiefdom, the more complicated
interaction among member tribes as well as
the large population and territories further
transformed leadership roles and gave the
chief more complex responsibilities.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
(1700’s-1800’s), Western Europe
-caused the drastic transformation of
societies, through breakthroughs and
introduction to social, political and cultural
changes in the lives of people, particularly
Europeans
-this was possible through the processes
such as technological advancements, the
growth of the population in urban areas,
Europeans lifestyle, the increased
production empowering the industry,
increased migration, and the rise of the
middle class
-technological advancements had the
greatest contribution in the industrial
revolution, paving the way for the massive
developments, such as steam discovery,
and the transition of agricultural to
industrial societies
-Industrial revolution also made a great
impact in the growth of sociopolitical
institutions. Hence, the idea of political
power and control in monarchy and
aristocracy started to fade. In this case,
Adam Smith’s argument about the role of
the state being the facilitator of the
economy’s growth and maintaining an
unregulated “free market” rose up.
 URBAN POPULATION
TECHNOLOGICAL INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION GROWTH
ADVANCEMENTS
1700S-1800S
INCREASED
LIFESTYLE CHANGE
MIGRATION

INCREASED
PRODUCTION

TECHNNOLOGICAL
ADVANCEMENTS

DISCOVERY OF AGRICULTURAL-
STEAM INDUSTRIAL

INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION

SOCIOPOLITICAL
INSTITUTIONS

LAIISSEZ-FAIRE

LAISSEZ-FAIRE
A principle of the non-intervention of the government to economical affairs; the heart of the
doctrine: “economy works better off alone, because it is always coursed into the equilibrium
of the market, explained by the theory of “perfect competition’, not dependent on
government policies and the interaction of the supply and demand and; a perspective that the
government’s intrusion is damaging, unless coursed to the restrictions checking monopolies
and stable prices.

THEORIES ON SOCIETY AND STATE

SOCIETY AS A NATURAL INSITUTION
From ancient Greece, the theory was first
elaborated as a product of natural interaction of
men. Supported by Aristotle, this process, done by
humans and even animals help fulfill their common
and interrelated needs. He put emphasis on this
situation in the , also known as city-state, as the
venue for the highest form of interaction. Among
Greeks, Aristotle is the only one who distinguished
society from state, symbolized by a slave, and a
master.
SOCIETY AS A PRODUCT OF SOCIAL CONTRACT
This theory exposed the interaction of early
societies and states based on an agreement that
defined and influence the connections particularly performed by social institutions as societies expand
between the authorities and the people. economically”

 Thomas Hobbes believed that such
agreements were made to gain and guarantee
security of the people as the main role of
rulers.
 John Locke proposed that such agreements
were formed to provide fair and impartial law
enforcement.
MODERNIZATION THORIES
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Historical-
Materialist Perspective:
“Societies evolve in stages in relation to the
development of the means of production and its
ownership.”
Max Weber
Bureaucracy- from the French word bureau
meaning “office” and from the Greek word kratos
meaning “hierarchy”.
 Emile Durkheim
He described traditional societies to be bound
by mechanical solidarity and on the other hand,
developed societies are characterized to have
organic solidarity.
mechanical solidarity- a sense of bonding
within the community based on similar beliefs,
values, and activities as well as kinship ties
between its members.
organic solidarity- where division of labor is
more specialized

He observed rationalization and

bureaucratization in industrial societies to be able
to express the idea: “functions have to be

RAMOS TAGALA TORRES