Elman Rogers Service (May 18, 1915 – November 14, 1996) was an American cultural anthropologist.

Biography

He was born on May 18, 1915, in

Tecumseh, Michigan Tecumseh ( ) is a city in Lenawee County, Michigan, Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the River Raisin. Tecumseh is about southwest of Detroit, south of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor, and north of Toledo, Ohio. The main stree ...

and died on November 14, 1996, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) 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 Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. He earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

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 Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

during the 1936–1939

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. He also fought in the 1941–1945

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Work

Elman Service researched

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

Indian

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

, cultural evolution, and theory and method in ethnology. He studied cultural evolution in Paraguay and studied cultures in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. These studies led to his theories about social systems and the rise of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropo ...

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 use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

chiefdom A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...

, and

. 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 American 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 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni