1st Edition

Culture & Progress:Esc V8

By Kenneth Thompson Copyright 2003

    First published in 2003. This final volume in the VIII-volume set titled The Early Sociology of Culture, deals with human culture, and confines itself neither to contemporary life nor to Western European civilization. The author argues that, if the volume demonstrates an inadequacy of the methods used in interpreting culture and progress, the study is justified. The chapters are separated into three parts: Culture and Culture Change; Theories of Progress and The Criteria of Progress.

    PART I. Culture and Culture Change, PREFACE, INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER I: CULTURE AREAS AND CULTURE TRAITS, CHAPTER II: METHODS OF INFERRING CULTURE DEVELOPMENT, CHAPTER III: MAGNITUDE OF DISTRIBUTION, CENTRIFUGAL SPREAD, AND CENTRIPEDAL ELABORATION OF CULTURE TRAITS, CHAPTER IV: THE DIFFUSION OF CULTURE TRAITS, CHAPTER V: THE ASSIMILATION OF CULTURE TRAITS, CHAPTER VI: CULTURE CHANGE AND SURVIVALS, CHAPTER VII: INDEPENDENT ORIGINS OF SIMILAR CULTURE TRAITS, CHAPTER VIII: CULTURE AND INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE, CHAPTER IX: CULTURE AND ULTIMATE AUTHORITY, CHAPTER X: CULTURE DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS, PART II. Theories of Progress, INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER XI: THE PROBLEM OF PROGRESS, CHAPTER XII: CONCEPTS OF PROGRESS IN THE OLDER CIVILIZATIONS, CHAPTER XIII: GREEK THEORIES OF PROGRESS, CHAPTER XIV: STOIC AND EPICUREAN CONCEPTS OF PROGRESS, CHAPTER XV: THEORIES OF PROGRESS IN CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES BEFORE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, CHAPTER XVI: CONCEPTS OF PROGRESS IN FRENCH THOUGHT BEFORE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, CHAPTER XVII: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THEORIES OF PROGRESS IN ENGLISH AND IN GERMAN THOUGHT, CHAPTER XVIII: THEORIES OF PROGRESS IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES, CHAPTER XIX. UTOPIAS IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES, PART III. The Criteria of Progress, INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER XX: VALUES IN CIVILIZATION AND IN SAVAGERY, CHAPTER XXI: PROGRESS AND VALUE, CHAPTER XXII: A TIME PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURE CHANGES, CHAPTER XXIII: A PERSPECTIVE OF CULTURE ACHIEVEMENTS, CHAPTER XXIV: CONCLUSION, REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING, INDEX

    Biography

    Thompson, Kenneth