Staging Play: Evolutionary and Developmental Studies

Abstract

The establishment of anthropology as a separate discipline concerned with the “science of man” occurred during the late 19th century. It was also during this time that the ideas of biological (e.g., Darwin) and social (e.g., Spencer) evolution were formulated. The theory of social evolution was based on an analogy that viewed cultures “as if” they were biological organisms exhibiting similar processes of “growth” and “development.” According to Nisbet (1969:7) this metaphor is one of the oldest and most powerful and encompassing metaphors in Western thought. The premises that underlie this view of cultural development are the following: change is seen as a process that is natural to both biological and social entities; social change is viewed as immanent (i.e., proceeding from forces within the entity); change is continuous and directional; and, therefore, it manifests itself in an orderly sequence of stages, which move cumulatively and linearly from one given point to another point; change is necessary because it is “natural”; change corresponds to differentiation and proceeds in a pattern from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous; and finally, change proceeds from uniform causes (Nisbet, 1969:212). Each of these premises was accepted as a “natural” fact by the early evolutionists in anthropology, and in the early 20th century, many of the ideas of the evolutionists passed into the disciplines of child psychology and child development.

“I wish you wouldn’t squeeze so,” said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her. “I can hardly breathe.”

“I can’t help it,” said Alice very meekly: “I’m growing.”

“You’ve no right to grow here,” said the Dormouse.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” said Alice more boldly: “you know you’re growing too.”

“Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,” said the Dormouse: “not in that ridiculous fashion.”

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland