unilineal evolution

English

Noun

unilineal evolution (usually uncountable, plural unilineal evolutions)

  1. (social sciences, anthropology) The theory, now considered obsolete, that societies evolve in a single direction toward complexity, progress, and civilization.
    Synonym: unilinear evolution
    • 2008, Colin Renfrew, Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind, Modern Library, →ISBN, page 89:
      Of course, when we speak in broadly evolutionary terms, to do so need not imply the simplistic notion of unilineal evolution, with the suggestion that human developments always follow the same sequential pattern.

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