A Lack of Linearity: Morgan would be disappointed!

Morgan, a cultural evolutionist, argues that society moves progressively forward in a linear fashion. Social groups begin with the classification of savagery and move through a stage of barbarism to reach civilization. He delineates categorical elements that are expected to develop in order to reach civilization. The category of government supports his claim by suggesting that the seed of governance can be found in the organization of "gentes" among savage groups. When the seed flourishes into full-fledged government, then civilization is the pertinent classification. Morgan also notes that house architecture reflects his posited cultural progression through its own linear improvement. He strongly indicates that the acknowledgement of property and ownership creates a pivotal shift towards civilization. With this point, he affirms the singular directionality of his theory towards an ideal civilization.

Morgan published Ethnical Periods in 1877, during which time, Indians were skirmishing with the U.S. Cavalry and inventions like the phonograph were being pioneered. Entrenched in a period of social change, the idea of progress through technology  and other advancements marks his theory. Marx and Engels were his contemporaries, and their work was also affected by the social revolutions occurring just before the turn of the century. Marxist concepts of property get appropriated by Morgan when he discusses the decisive point of change between barbarism and civilization.

 Meanwhile, Spencer's The Organic Analogy Reconsidered, published only a year before Morgan, uses the analogy of a biological organism to discuss society. As a biological organism increases in complexity, different parts of the body develop specialized functions that are all interdependent upon one another for the survival of the organism. In the same way, as society becomes more complex, specialization of labor necessitates interdependence within the group in order for the culture to survive. Though he never overtly states the relationship between complexity and interdependence, he alludes to the acquisition of skills, such as domestication of animals and writing, that would have led to a more segregated but interdependent labor force. 

The strengths of Morgan's work lie in the categories he created, not for their discrete nature but because his categories of subsistence, government, language, family, religion, architecture, and private property denote aspects of cultural systems. He noticed key moments in man's history, like agriculture and the creation of a writing system, which were needed in order for state societies to rise up. The fallacy of Morgan's claim lies in the linearity of his cultural evolution. He only allows for the progression forward toward a civilized state society and implies that Western society is the ideal to which all other societies should aspire. However, we know today that societies increase and decrease in complexity at varying times. Chiefdoms would grow and diversify until the system broke apart into several smaller chiefdoms or even tribes before congregating together again. Thus no one system is more civilized or savage.

Today, sociocultural evolution is still a point of discussion, regardless of whether you agree or disagree. Though Morgan's labels did not continue to be used, his categories have served as points of reference people use to measure different cultures and argue for sociocultural evolution.