Evolutionism and its Critics

Authors

  • Stephen K. Sanderson University of California, Riverside

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.1997.120

Abstract

Evolutionary theories have held a prominent place in the history of the social sciences. Although there are many kinds of evolutionary theories, the essential element that they hold in common is their assumption that history is more than just a series of particular and unique events. On the contrary, the evolutionist assumption is that history reveals a certain directionality in the sense that there are similar processes occurrin g at similar times, at various points throughout the globe. The best of thes e theories do not limit themselves to simply describing directional patterns, but go on to provid e some sort of model or causal explanation for the observed sequence or sequences .

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Published

1997-02-26

How to Cite

Sanderson, S. . K. . (1997). Evolutionism and its Critics. Journal of World-Systems Research, 3(1), 94–114. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.1997.120

Issue

Volume 3, Issue 1, 1997

Section

General Section

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