White and the Rational Individual

We all understand White as a cultural ecologist who found inspiration in Spencer and Morgan’s evolutionary theories. While White was a distant student of Boas, his theories vary widely from the foundations that Boas set in historical particularism and holism. White returns to the idea of cultural evolution, analyzing how energy and tool use drive a culture’s progression. White proposes an empirical method to study the progression of a culture by observing and recording the increase in the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year or the efficiency of technology for utilizing that energy increase. This is measurable and allows for the researcher to be culturally comparative. However, this focuses on the technological system of a culture, and I feel that within this theory we also lose a holistic and important view of the culture. White’s theory and formula runs on the assumption that all cultures, and more importantly individuals, are purely rational and biological beings as we desire cultural complexity mainly through energy utilization.

                This theory assumes that cultures and individuals will farm and eat the crops and animals with the highest nutritional content. Or possibly that cultures and individuals will most likely farm food which uses the least amount of energy to harvest but offers the highest amount of energy in return. We must consider that the foundations of this theory could be faulty. While it is a fair, but subjective, means to define or rate a society based off of efficiency of energy and technology use, it would be wrong to say that this is the primary drive for a culture’s development. There are numerous examples of individuals or cultures choosing not to farm and eat food which would possibly result in more efficient harnessing of energy, which does not fit into White’s theory. One possible example may for Hindus, it may be more calorically efficient for some to eat beef, however there are cultural and religious reasons for not eating beef. If we were purely rational beings, then we would eat whatever food took the least amount of energy to harvest but offers the highest amount of energy in return, but this may not be the case across the world. We are cultural beings, and our culture impacts our use of energy and tools. Cultures and individuals do not simply act because of energy efficiency, but rather there are other cultural reasons for our actions. White’s theory of cultural evolution does not focus on the individual or the reasons behind the actions of an individual within a culture. Because of this, I think that the system which White has devised to organize culture overlooks variables which drastically impact our ability to efficiently use energy and tools within our environment.

(Disclaimer: I am not well versed in the caloric value of beef versus milk or the exact practices of Hindus or if this applies more or less widely. This is a possible situation, and please feel free to correct any misinformation, this is just my current understanding.)