Social Evolutionism

Stephen K Sanderson is Professor of Sociology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

• 1. The Nature of Social Evolutionism 2. Classical Evolutionism 3. The Antievolutionary Reaction 4. Marxism as Evolutionism 5. The Evolutionary Revival 6. Sociological Neoevolutionism 7. Anthropological Evolutionism since 1960 8. Evolutionary Biology and Social Evolutionism 9. Contemporary Antievolutionism 10. Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Sociocultural Evolution References.

"Sanderson writes with admirable clarity, and with a relaxed, easy-going (yet unpatronizing) style. There is none of the jargon and intellectual pomposity that afflict so much writing in sociological and anthropological theory. Indeed, the book would be readily comprehensive to a virtual beginner with little or no previous knowledge of the field." The Times Higher Education Supplement "Everything graduate students want to prepare for their generals: a succinct, clear presentation of over a century of evolutionary thinking in the social sciences, with incisive criticisms. The main strands of social evolutionism are skillfully disentangled are related to biological evolutionism. I can think of no better text to use in any course on sociological theory." Pierre van den Berghe "One of the most important books i have read in recent years. It cuts through the nihilism and antiscientism of the past decade with a splandidly shiny sciences... His expositions of the works of leading figures make for one brilliant tour de force after another." Marvin Harris "The text is superb. It is easily the outstanding treatment of the subject in print. It deserves wide currency and should becmoe the standard textbook for any sociology or anthropology course on sociocultural evolution." Robert L Carneiro