Julian Steward was an American anthropologist who founded cultural ecology, an approach analyzing how a society's core social and economic institutions adapt to the specific environment and subsistence technology available to it. In Theory of Culture Change (1955) he proposed a theory of multilinear evolution, arguing against both the older idea of a single universal sequence of cultural stages and the opposing view that every culture's history is entirely unique, and holding instead that similar environments and technologies tend to produce recurrent, comparable patterns of social organization across otherwise unrelated societies. Steward's method of comparing societies by the specific ecological adaptations of their core institutions, developed through his own fieldwork among Great Basin peoples, shaped later ecological and evolutionary approaches in anthropology, including the cultural materialism of his student Marvin Harris.
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Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionDeveloped the theory of multilinear cultural evolution and the method of cultural ecology, analyzing how societies adapt to their specific environments and subsistence technologies. 1 Notable WorkTheory of Culture Change (1955) 1 Julian Steward
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Rejected Here
Steward framed his multilinear cultural evolution explicitly against White universal evolutionary model.
Source Julian Steward (Wikipedia)
Informed By
Source Julian Steward (Wikipedia)
Source Julian Steward (Wikipedia)
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1. Julian Steward (Wikipedia)
Wikipediaopening paragraph, infobox line (birth date)
Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902, February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing
opening paragraph, infobox line (birth year)
Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902, February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing
Early life and education section, opening sentence
Steward was born in Washington, D.C., where he lived on Monroe Street, NW
opening paragraph, infobox line (death date)
Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902, February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing
opening paragraph, infobox line (death year)
Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902, February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing
opening paragraph, infobox line (nationality)
Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902, February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing
References section, Steward bibliography entry
Steward, Julian H. Theory of Culture Change. University of Illinois Press, 1990.
Work and influence section, opening paragraph
Steward is notable for developing a more nomothetic, social-scientific style.
Informed By: Robert Lowie, Early life and education section, Berkeley paragraph (Lowie)
As an undergraduate, Steward studied for a year at UC Berkeley, with two of his professors being Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie
Informed By: Alfred L. Kroeber, Early life and education section, Berkeley paragraph (Kroeber)
As an undergraduate, Steward studied for a year at UC Berkeley, with two of his professors being Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie
Associated With: Leslie White, Work and influence section, multilinear vs universal paragraph
In evolutionary terms, he described cultural ecology as "multi-linear", in contrast to the unilinear typological models popular during the 19th century, and Leslie White's "universal" model
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