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https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.48.2023.05

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Goudsblom's Law of Three Stages: The Global Spread of Socio-Cultural Traits in Human History

Goudsbloms Gesetz der drei Stadien: Die globale Ausbreitung soziokultureller Merkmale in der Menschheitsgeschichte
[journal article]

Wilterdink, Nico

Abstract

In several publications, Johan Goudsblom advanced a “law of three stages” concerning the spread of certain socio-cultural traits (x, y, z...) over humanity. In the first stage, no human society has trait x; in the second stage, some societies have that trait; and in the third stage, all societies ha... view more

In several publications, Johan Goudsblom advanced a “law of three stages” concerning the spread of certain socio-cultural traits (x, y, z...) over humanity. In the first stage, no human society has trait x; in the second stage, some societies have that trait; and in the third stage, all societies have the trait. Important examples of such traits pertain to what Goudsblom has depicted as the great “ecological transformations” in human history: the control of fire, the domestication of plants and animals, and industrialisation. Other examples are metallurgy, writing, money, state organisation, clocks, and computers. This paper elaborates this model and explores its scope, validity, and usefulness for understanding long-term trends in human history. It discusses the model’s theoretical implications (section 2), causal interconnections between socio-cultural traits that spread globally (section 3), explanations for the transition from the second to the third stage (section 3, which includes a brief discussion of Cultural Darwinism), and different mechanisms by which socio-cultural traits spread from some to more societies (section 4). Section 5 deals with the consequences of this spread for power relations between societies. Section 6 focuses on recent developments, including the digital revolution and the transition from the use of fossil fuels to the exploitation of other energy sources. The concluding section discusses briefly the scope and validity of Goudsblom’s “law of three stages” in view of these recent developments.... view less

Classification
Sociology
History

Free Keywords
Johan Goudsblom; law of three stages; process model; social evolution; diffusion; cultural growth; competitive advantages; power resources; Cultural Darwinism; ways of spreading; socio-cultural Traits; human history; global spread; power inequalities; power

Document language
English

Publication Year
2023

Page/Pages
p. 84-104

Journal
Historical Social Research, 48 (2023) 1

Issue topic
Long-Term Processes in Human History

ISSN
0172-6404

Status
Published Version; peer reviewed

Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0


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© 2007 - 2025 Social Science Open Access Repository (SSOAR).
Based on DSpace, Copyright (c) 2002-2022, DuraSpace. All rights reserved.