Final answer:
Cultural evolutionism is the theory that assesses cultural development based on the capacity to harness energy, through a framework of progressing from simple to complex organizational forms. Edward Tylor's concept of society evolving from savagery to civilization exemplifies this view, although it has evolved and faced criticism over time with more modern approaches considering environmental adaptations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The theory that considers how cultures evolve based on their capacity to harness energy is referred to as cultural evolutionism. This concept emerged from the 19th-century anthropological thought which proposed that human culture progresses through stages from simpler to more complex forms of social organization and technology. Grounding this concept, British anthropologist Edward Tylor identified stages from savagery, associated with gathering and hunting societies, through barbarism, linked to the domestication of animals and plants, to civilization, characterized by advanced forms of farming, trade, manufacturing, and literacy. This notion, sometimes called unilineal evolution, though largely abandoned today, has influenced various theories of societal development.
Anthropologists like Lewis Henry Morgan and later Marvin Harris with his cultural materialism, have emphasized technology and economic factors as primary drivers for cultural change. They studied the relationship between technological advancements and changes in social structures and cultural practices. Nonetheless, this evolutionist perspective faced criticism from scholars like Franz Boas, who introduced the concept of historical particularism, arguing that cultures evolve in unique trajectories and through interactions with other societies, rather than following a predetermined path.
Modern approaches such as cultural ecology, developed by Julian Steward, consider the relationship between environmental adaptations and cultural developments, underscoring how different environments necessitate different cultural solutions for survival, such as food production and shelter construction.