Classical Evolutionism in Anthropology: Tylor, Morgan and Frazer – UPSC Notes

⏱ 13 min read  |  ~2350 words

Classical evolutionism is a foundational theory that UPSC has examined repeatedly — 2021 (15 marks), 2015 (20 marks), 2010 (30 marks), 2002, 1997. If you don’t understand Tylor’s animism, Morgan’s kinship stages, and Frazer’s magic-religion-science progression, you’ll struggle to answer questions on cultural change, religion, kinship, and political organization. This blog covers the three key classical evolutionists with their major contributions and criticisms.

What is Classical Evolutionism?

Classical evolutionism is the first systematic theory in anthropology, emerging in the latter half of the 19th century (1859–1900). It proposes that culture evolves gradually from simple to complex, homogeneous to heterogeneous, and uncertain to certain. This evolution follows a unilinear path — all societies progress through the same fixed stages of development.

Origin: Classical evolutionism emerged as a reaction to perceived cultural deterioration in 19th-century Western thought. It sought to establish anthropology as a science by discovering universal laws of cultural change.

Basic Premises of Classical Evolutionism

Every classical evolutionist, despite differences, shared these core assumptions:

• 1. Unilinear Evolution: Culture progresses in one direction from simple to complex. All societies pass through identical stages (savagery → barbarism → civilization). Victorian society represents the highest stage.
• 2. Psychic Unity of Mankind: All humans have similar mental frameworks and problem-solving capacities. Cultural similarities arise from parallel inventions, not diffusion. Example: Discovery of zero occurred independently in Indian, Babylonian, and Mayan cultures.
• 3. Cultural Survivals: Remnants from earlier evolutionary stages persist in contemporary societies. These “social fossils” or survivals prove that a society has evolved from simpler conditions. Example: Pottery-making is a survival from prehistory.
• 4. Comparative Method: By comparing contemporary primitive societies with modern civilized ones, anthropologists can reconstruct prehistoric societies. Contemporary tribal peoples are treated as “windows into the past.”

E.B. Tylor (1832–1917): Animism and Religion
Life and Work

E.B. Tylor was a British anthropologist who became the founder of modern anthropology. His major works include Primitive Culture (1871) and Anthropology (1881). Tylor is credited with the first academic definition of culture itself.

Definition of Culture

Tylor defined culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” This landmark definition established culture — not biology — as the proper subject of anthropology. Culture is acquired through social learning, not inherited biologically.

Theory of Animism

Tylor argued that religion originated from animism — belief in souls and spiritual beings. When primitive humans observed dreams (seeing the dead speaking to them) and witnessed death, they logically concluded that every being possesses a dual existence: a physical body and an invisible soul (anima). This belief in souls marks the earliest form of religion.

Tylor identified two types of souls: the body soul (leaves the body at death) and the free soul (wanders around, affects the living, punishes wrongdoing). Over time, these spirits were elevated to gods, leading to polytheism, and eventually to monotheism as gods merged into a supreme being.

Evolution of Religion: Animism → Polytheism → Monotheism

Tylor correlated religious forms with stages of society: savages practice animism, barbarians practice polytheism, and civilized peoples practice monotheism. Religion is a cultural universal — no known culture lacks religious beliefs. Tylor was among the first to use statistics in anthropology, correlating patrilineal descent with patrilocal residence patterns.

Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881): Family, Kinship & Society
Life and Work

Lewis Henry Morgan was an American lawyer and anthropologist called the “Father of American Anthropology.” Unlike Tylor, Morgan conducted fieldwork among the Iroquois Indians. His masterwork Ancient Society (1877) laid the foundation for kinship studies in anthropology.

Stages of Societal Evolution

Morgan adopted Tylor’s three-stage framework but refined it. He subdivided each stage based on technological advancement:

• Savagery: Lower (hunting), Middle (fishing), Upper (bow and arrow)
• Barbarism: Lower (pottery), Middle (domestication of animals), Upper (iron smelting)
• Civilization: Rise of writing and cities

Evolution of Marriage and Family

Morgan proposed that human society began as a “horde living in promiscuity” with no sexual restrictions and no formal family structure. Through evolutionary stages, family became progressively smaller and more regulated:

• Consanguine Family: Group marriages between brothers and sisters based on sexual communism
• Punaluan Family: Groups of boys married groups of girls (but excluding siblings)
• Syndiasmian Family: One male and female pair, but with sexual freedom outside marriage
• Patriarchal Family: One male authority, polygyny allowed, but monogamy for females
• Monogamous Family: Modern form with one male and one female

Kinship Classification: Classificatory to Descriptive

Morgan divided kinship systems into two types. Classificatory kinship systems (Hawaiian, Iroquois) use the same term for multiple relatives (e.g., father and father’s brother both called “father”). Descriptive kinship systems (Sudanese) precisely identify each relative individually. Morgan argued that classificatory systems reflect earlier stages of society (promiscuity, group marriage), while descriptive systems emerge with civilization and individual property rights.

James Frazer (1854–1941): Magic, Religion and Science
Life and Work

Sir James George Frazer was a British anthropologist and collector of comparative data. His monumental work The Golden Bough (1890) examined religion and magic across cultures. He was also an armchair anthropologist who never conducted fieldwork, relying instead on reports from missionaries and travelers.

The Three-Stage Progression: Magic → Religion → Science

Frazer’s evolutionary scheme differs from Tylor and Morgan by including science as the final stage. He argued that early humans were dominated by magic, which operates through two principles:

• Law of Similarity (Imitative Magic): “Like produces like.” To harm an enemy, magicians fashion a doll in his image and drive needles through it, believing the same harm will befall the original.
• Law of Contact (Contagious Magic): Connections persist even after separation. One can harm a person through their hair clippings, nail trimmings, or worn clothing.

When magic failed to produce results, practitioners lost faith in controlling nature directly. They began worshipping supernatural powers instead — marking the birth of religion. Eventually, religion too was recognized as illusion, and science emerged as the final stage of human intellectual development.

Totemism

Frazer defined totem as “a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists an intimate and special relation between him and every member of the clan.” Among Australia’s Arunta tribe, totems were believed to cause pregnancy. Frazer’s work on totemism influenced subsequent anthropological research, particularly Durkheim’s analysis of Australian aboriginal religion.

Critical Analysis of Classical Evolutionism

Despite its foundational importance, classical evolutionism faced severe criticism:

• Armchair Anthropologists: All three scholars (Tylor, Morgan, Frazer) relied on secondary data from missionaries and travelers, not fieldwork. Franz Boas led the empirical revolt against such speculation.
• No Proof of Psychic Unity: The assumption that all humans think alike and independently invent similar solutions lacked scientific evidence and couldn’t account for cultural diversity.
• Ethnocentrism: Treating Victorian society as the highest evolutionary stage reflects Western bias and prejudice against non-Western cultures.
• Ignored Diffusion: Classical evolutionists explained cultural similarities through parallel invention, neglecting diffusion (culture contact) as a mechanism of change. Diffusionists criticized this oversight.
• Unilinear vs. Multilinear Reality: Not all societies progress through identical stages. Some societies have skipped stages, regressed, or become extinct — contradicting strict unilinearity.
• Coexistence, Not Replacement: Frazer’s magic-religion-science progression doesn’t reflect ethnographic reality. Magic and religion coexist with science in modern societies.

Quick Comparison Table: Tylor vs. Morgan vs. Frazer

Legacy and Impact

Despite criticisms, classical evolutionism achieved significant milestones:

• Established Anthropology as a Science: It was the first systematic effort to apply scientific methods to cultural phenomena, providing anthropology with legitimacy as an academic discipline.
• Culture as the Central Theme: Tylor’s definition of culture established it as anthropology’s core concept, not biology or race.
• Foundation for Later Theories: Functionalism, diffusionism, and neo-evolutionism all developed as responses to classical evolutionism.
• Kinship as an Analytical Tool: Morgan’s work on kinship classification became foundational for modern anthropological kinship analysis.

Next: Historical Particularism & Franz Boas — The Empirical Revolution in Anthropology