Definition: The American anthropologist Leslie White is most closely associated with the theory of cultural evolution, that over time cultures evolve and that the driving force behind cultural evolution was technological innovation. White was building on the ideas of 19th century British anthropologists, such as A.H.L. Fox Pitt-Rivers, and in pretty much direct opposition to people like Franz Boas and Julian Steward. Educated at Columbia and the University of Chicago, White became one of the founding members of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He did much of his fieldwork in the American southwest.
White, Leslie A. 1987. Ethnological essays; edited and with an introduction by Beth Dillingham and Robert L. Carneiro. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press.
--- 1975. The concept of cultural systems : a key to understanding tribes and nations. New York : Columbia University Press
. ---. 1973. The concept of culture. Minneapolis, Burgess Pub. Co.
---. 1969. The science of culture; a study of man and civilization. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Sources for the term include the references listed on the front page of the Dictionary, and the websites listed in the sidebar.
White, Leslie A. 1987. Ethnological essays; edited and with an introduction by Beth Dillingham and Robert L. Carneiro. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press.
--- 1975. The concept of cultural systems : a key to understanding tribes and nations. New York : Columbia University Press
. ---. 1973. The concept of culture. Minneapolis, Burgess Pub. Co.
---. 1969. The science of culture; a study of man and civilization. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Sources for the term include the references listed on the front page of the Dictionary, and the websites listed in the sidebar.
