Sociocultural Evolution,Sociocultural Evolution,Sociocultural materialism is an avowedly evolutionary perspective.,http:/www.tjshiqiu.com 高压油管 金属软管 液压接头 http:/www.u51688.com,Sociocultural Evolution,“Anthropologists have long recognized that in Broadest perspective cultural evolution has three main characteristics: Escalating energy budgets, increased productivity and accelerating population growth.” -Marvin Harris,Sociocultural Evolution,Great transitions in human societies, transitions that involve a qualitative shift in the mode of production, are an outgrowth of the intensification process.,Evolutionary Process:,Intensification depletion and pollution Further intensification depletion and pollution,Evolutionary Process:,The whole process results in either the collapse of the system or a shift to a new mode of production where the process begins again.,Intensification,Throughout history, the intensification of the forces of production have always been toward greater complexity because the process leads to the exploitation of less available, harder to reach sources of energy.,Intensification,Similarly, when environmental depletion is reached, the qualitative shift in the forces of production represents a move from a readily available source (say wood) to a less accessible source (coal, oil or nuclear fission).,Intensification,Over the course of social evolution, mankind has had to engage in more and more complicated processing and production techniques in order to draw energy out of the environment.,