Final answer:
Lewis Henry Morgan's stages of development—Savagery, Barbarism, Civilization—were historically significant by providing a structure for understanding cultural evolution, focusing on technology as the driving force. However, these stages were informed by ethnocentric views, which are now largely discredited in modern anthropology in favor of a multilinear perspective that recognizes unique cultural trajectories.
Step-by-step explanation:
Morgan's three stages of development, Savagery, Barbarism, and Civilization, were significant during their time as they offered a framework for understanding cultural evolution. American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan expanded upon Edward Tylor's scheme, emphasizing technology as the main driver for cultural progress. He proposed that advancements in making tools and other technologies led to novel social practices and thought processes, associating advanced technology with advanced civilizations.
These early anthropological theories, however, were based on ethnocentric viewpoints that ranked cultures along a single Eurocentric continuum from 'savagery' to 'civilized'. This perspective was used to justify colonialism and the domination of cultures deemed inferior. The term 'civilization' was often applied in a way that considered European society as the pinnacle of cultural development. Such thinking labeled non-European societies with complex systems as 'uncivilized' if they did not follow a similar developmental path or if they lacked an alphabetic script.
Unilineal evolution, the idea that all cultures passed through the same set of stages toward civilization, is largely abandoned in contemporary anthropology. Influential anthropologists like Franz Boas argued for a multilinear approach, recognizing that each culture follows a unique historical trajectory, shaped not just by technological innovation but by interactions with other cultures through trade, migration, and conquest. Modern scholars now approach the understanding of cultures on their own terms, apart from ethnocentric measurements.