Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution

244 pp. "In a collection of papers spanning some 20 years of work, Steward argues persuasively that cultural change consists of complex, continuing processes, rather than isolable acts or events of unitary character. This volume sets forth certain concepts and methods needed to develop a general methodology for determining regularities in the functional interrelationships of cultural patterns and in the processes of culture change which have occurred independently among societies in different parts of the world. The first five chapters are primarily theoretical. Each elaborates a concept and method. The following seven chapters are slightly more substantive than theoretical in that they illustrate applications of the basic theory to selected cultures."