Elman Service was a cultural anthropologist.

Brief Biography

He was born on May 18, 1915 in Tecumseh, Michigan and died on November 14, 1996 in Santa Barbara, California. He earned a Bachelors Degree in 1941 from the University of Michigan. He earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1951 and taught there from 1949 to 1953. From there, Service went back to the University of Michigan to teach from 1953 till 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 in Spain to fight fascism. He also fought in WWII for the United States Army.

Work

Elman Service researched Latin American Indian ethnology, cultural evolution, and theory and method in ethnology. He studied cultural evolution in Paraguay and studied cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean. These studies led to his theories about social systems and the rise of the state as a system of political organization. Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... ... A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ...

He was the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Ethnological Society and a member of the American Anthropological Association. American Anthropological Association (AAA) was founded in 1902 and claims to be, the worlds largest professional organization of individuals interested in anthropology. Although there were several other American anthropological societies in existence at the turn of the 20th century, this new, national organization was formed to promote the science...

Theories

Elman Service defined four classifications of the stages of social evolution which are also the four levels of political organizations: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state. A Band Society or Lineage Bonded Society is the simplest form of human society. ... Viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe consists of a social formation existing before the development of, or outside of, states. ... A chiefdom is any community led by an individual known as a chief. ... A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ...

He also developed the "managerial benefits" theory that states that chiefdom-like society developed because it was apparently beneficial, because of the centralized leadership. The leader provides benefits to the 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.

He also had an integration theory. He believed that early civilizations were not stratified based on property. They were only stratified based on unequal political power, not because of unequal access to resources. 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.

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

http://bruceowen.com/emciv/34104s15.htm http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9066882 http://www.indiana.edu/~ancient/6notes.html http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/rug/AR210/circles/project/technol.htm http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/service_elman.html http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/fa/american_ethnological_society.pdf