Theories
Evolutionary
Theories
Proponent
(Background)
Major Assumptions/Hypothesis
Merits/Demerits
Charles
Robert
Darwin (1809-82)
was
born
at
Shrewsbury. He is
the first of the
evolutionary
biologists,
the
originator of the
concept of natural
selection.
Auguste Comte(19 January 1798 –
5 September 1857)
was
a
French
philosopher,
a
founder of the
discipline
of
sociology and of
the doctrine of
positivism. He may
be regarded as the
first philosopher of
science
in
the
modern sense of the
term
 Variations exist among the members of any given
species of plants and animals and that every species
tend to produce more offspring than the environment
can support. There is struggle and the individual that
are better able to cope with their environment will
survive (survival of the fittest).
 Thus, species change over time. The survivors in the
struggle for existence pass on their superior genes to
their offspring.
Herbert Spencer(born April 27,
1820,
Derby,
Derbyshire, Eng. —
died Dec. 8, 1903,
 Spencer believed of evolution as a process of growth,
comparing all societies to organisms. He contended
that change has persistently moved society from
homogeneous and simple units toward progressively
heterogeneous and interdependent units.
Evolutionary
perspective
compares societies
to organism: those
exhibiting
the
same
characteristics are
grouped together
into
a
class.
Societies with the
same level of
development
belong
to
a
particular class and
therefore expected
to exhibit similar
characteristics.
Although
evolutionary
theory fell into
disrepute for some
50 years, it has
recently undergone
a revival (Valder
Zanden,
1990).
Contemporary
approaches take a
“multilinear” view
of
evolution.
Proponents of this
view
recognize
 Comte believed in unilinear evolution, the assumption
that there is a single set of stages through which every
person, every society, and every branch of knowledge
must develop.
Relevant
Application to
Rural
Development
From
the
unilinear
development
point of view,
developing
countries like
the Philippines
is assumed to
follow
and
undergo
the
same
paths
which
the
developed
countries now
have
undergone
before
reaching their
present status.
“The theories
herein
discussed
serve as guide
in determining
what possible
changes
to
expect to be
able
to
increase
the
chances
of
survival or it
Lewis
Henry
Morgan- was born
on Nov. 21, 1818,
William Graham
Summer- was born
on Oct. 30, 1840, in
Paterson, N. J. His
parents were both
of English ancestry
and of modest
social background.
Lester
Frank
Ward (1841-1913).
was born in Joliet,
III., on June 18,
1841.
Ferdinand
Toennies. was born
into a wealthy
farmer's family in
Nordfriesland
in
SchleswigHolstein,
then
under Danish rule
Howard P. Becker
(1899-1960)..
that “change” does
not
necessarily
imply “progress”.
That
change
occurs in different
ways, and that
change proceeds in
many
different
directions.
 Morgan saw societies as evolving through a number of
stages.
His principal attention was focused on
technological factors, kinship systems, and property
relations to social and political institutions; he
described the progress of humankind through three
main stages of evolution: 1.savagery, 2. barbarism and
3.civilization.
 Summer believed that social improvement could only
come about through natural evolution of society and
Criticism
not by legislation.
One criticism of
unilinear evolution
is the fact that not
all societies have
to go through the
same
stages.
Some
are
able
to
 Ward believed that both human beings and human
skip
stages
through
society had developed through eons of evolution, but
the
he maintained that once intellect has evolved in diffusion,
spread
of
cultural
humans, they gained the ability to help shape the
trait from one
subsequent evolution of social forms.
society to another.
 Toennies perceived two periods in the history of the
great systems of culture: a period of Gemeinshaft
(rural and folklife) and Gesellshaft (cosmopolitan,
rational urban life).

Becker saw the transition as being from a sacred,
traditionally oriented society to a secular society that
evaluates customs and practices in terms of their
gives direction
on
what
coping
mechanism to
adopt
to
enhance future
success.
pragmatic outcomes.
Robert Redfield
(1897-1958).
was born on Dec. 4,
1897, in Chicago,
Ill., 1921.

Redfield described folk society as small, isolated and
homogenous with a strong sense of group solidarity.
Gerhard
Emmanuel Lenski
(born August 13,
1924
in
Washington, DC) is
an
American
sociologist known
for contributions to
the sociology of
religion,
social
inequality,
and
ecologicalevolutionary.

Lenski maintain that continuity, innovation, and
extinction are basic aspects of the evolutionary
process and “evolution is essentially cumulative
change: it involves the gradual addition of new
elements to a continuing base.
Rostow
(1961). According to Rostow, growth and development to
(October 7, 1916 – economic maturity proceed through the following
February 13, 2003) stages:
was an American
1. Traditional Setting Society.
economist
and
2. The preconditions for “take-off”
political theorist
3. The take – off
4. The drive towards maturity
5. The age of high mass consumption
Prominent for his role in the shaping of American policy
in Southeast Asia during the 1960s, he was a staunch anticommunist, and was noted for a belief in the efficacy of
capitalism and free enterprise. Rostow served as a major
adviser on national security affairs under the Kennedy and
Johnson administrations.
James
Vernon
Smith (July 23, Smith identified the following general characteristics
1926 - June 23, of evolutionary theories:
1973)
1. Holism – studying the whole unit rather than its parts
2. Universalism – change is natural, universal, perpetual
and ubiquitous, and requires no explanation
3. Potentiality – change is inherent and endogenous in the
unit undergoing change.
4. Directionality – change is progressive.
5. Determinism – change is inevitable and irreversible for
all units.
6. Gradualism – change is continuous, cumulative
growth.
7. Reductionism – “laws of succession” are uniform and
the basic topic of change is everywhere the same.