Ancient Society

"Men make progress through 'the gradual evolution of their mental and moral powers through experience, and of their protracted struggle with opposing obstacles while winning their way to civilization.'"

-Lewis Henry Morgan, Ancient Society



Ancient Society (1877) by Lewis Morgan is a sequel to the author's previous book Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (also available from Cosimo Classics), which presented data about kinship and social organization based on the author's considerable research among native American societies. In this second book, Lewis wrote about a theory of human progress he had derived from the data. According to Morgan, human progress consists of three stages-savagery, barbarism, and civilization. He also believed that humans always progress through these stages. but not uniformly. These conclusions were important largely because of their influence on the thinking of such dominant social theorists as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.