Elman Rogers Service (1915–1996) was an American
cultural anthropologist.
Biography
He was born on May 18, 1915 in
Tecumseh, Michigan
Tecumseh is a city in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the River Raisin. Tecumseh is about southwest of Detroit, south of Ann Arbor, and north of Toledo, Ohio. The main street of downtown is Chicago Boulevard, also desig ...
and died on November 14, 1996 in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...
. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. He earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1951 and taught there from 1949 to 1953. From there, Service went back to the University of Michigan to teach from 1953 until 1969. He later taught at the
University of California at Santa Barbara from 1969 to 1985, when he retired.
During his time studying at the University of Michigan, Service joined the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade of the Republican Faction in Spain to fight against the victorious Nationalist Faction of General
Francisco Franco during the 1936–1939
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
. He also fought in the 1941–1945
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
for the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
.
Work
Elman Service researched
Latin American
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...
Indian
ethnology, cultural evolution, and theory and method in ethnology. He studied cultural evolution in Paraguay and studied cultures in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
and the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
. These studies led to his theories about social systems and the
rise
Rise or RISE may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* '' Rise: The Vieneo Province'', an internet-based virtual world
* Rise FM, a fictional radio station in the video game ''Grand Theft Auto 3''
* Rise Kujikawa, a vide ...
of the
state as a system of political organization.
He was the Secretary-Treasurer of the
American Ethnological Society and a member of the
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...
.
Theories
In 1962, Elman Service published his four classifications of the stages of social evolution and political organizations:
band,
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
,
chiefdom, and
state.
He also developed the "managerial benefits" theory, which states that chiefdom-like society developed because of the apparent benefits of centralized leadership. The leader provides benefits to their followers, which, over time, become more complex, benefiting the whole chiefdom society. This keeps the leader in power, and allows the bureaucratic organization to grow.
Service also advanced an integration theory. He believed that early civilizations were not stratified based on property and unequal access to resources, but instead based on unequal political power. He believed there were no true class conflicts, but only power struggles between the political elite in early civilizations. The integration part of this theory was that monuments were created through volunteering, not the leaders forcing it upon the populace.
Elman Service also coined what he called “
Law of Evolutionary Potential” in relation to cultural evolution. This law posited that the more specialized and adapted a form in a given evolutionary stage, the smaller its' potential for passing on to the next stage.
Books by Elman Service
* ''Tobati: Paraguayan Town'' (1954)
* ''A Profile of Primitive Culture'' (1958)
* ''Evolution and Culture'' (with M.D. Sahlins) (1960)
* ''Primitive Social Organization'' (1962)
* ''Profiles in Ethnology'' (1963)
* ''The Hunters'' (1966)
* ''Cultural Evolutionism'' (1971)
* ''Origins of the State and Civilization'' (1975)
* ''A Century of Controversy, Ethnological Issues from 1860 to 1960'' (1985)
Bibliography
*https://web.archive.org/web/20060616094717/http://bruceowen.com/emciv/34104s15.htm
*http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9066882
*http://www.indiana.edu/~ancient/6notes.html
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050118101236/http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/rug/AR210/circles/project/technol.htm
*https://web.archive.org/web/20051102130808/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/service_elman.html
*https://web.archive.org/web/20060525075948/http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/fa/american_ethnological_society.pdf
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Service, Elman
1915 births
1996 deaths
Cultural anthropologists
Abraham Lincoln Brigade members
American ethnologists
Neoevolutionists
University of Michigan alumni
University of Michigan faculty
People from Tecumseh, Michigan
20th-century American anthropologists
Columbia University alumni