Final answer:
The perspective that societies develop from savagery to barbarism to civilization is called unilineal evolution, a theory advanced by 19th-century anthropologists but later discredited due to its ethnocentric bias.
Step-by-step explanation:
The outdated perspective that all societies develop along a single path progressing from savagery to barbarism to civilization is known as unilineal evolution. This concept was championed by 19th-century anthropologists like Edward Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan, who proposed that cultures worldwide evolved through a series of stages in a fixed progression towards the European standard of civilization. However, this notion has been largely discredited in contemporary anthropology due to its ethnocentric bias and the understanding that societies develop along multiple paths influenced by unique historical and cultural trajectories.
Societies have been variously defined by their level of technological sophistication, as posited by sociologist Gerhard Lenski. Yet the term 'civilization' has been used in a eurocentric sense, comparing societies against a European standard of development and moral progress. This form of ethnocentrism classed Native American and African societies as 'primitive', and Asian and Middle Eastern cultures as 'barbaric' despite their advancements, because they didn't adhere to the Western worldview. Critical evaluation of these early anthropological theories has led to a more nuanced understanding of cultures based on their own merits rather than a single scale of progress.