Cultural Survivals Theory and Traditional Customs: An Examination of the Effects of Privileging on the Form and Perception of Some English Calendar Customs

Abstract

AbstractCultural survivals theory is a development of the theory of cultural evolution proposed by E. B. Tylor. From his work on ‘primitive’ societies, Tyler put forward the theory that all cultures evolve in relatively fixed sequences through stages of savagery and barbarism to civilization. Residual expressive culture from early stages of the progression was proposed as ‘surviving’ into the civilized era in the form of traditional songs, games, narratives, and customs. The universality of cultural development, which is posited as underlying the survivals thesis, renders the expressive culture of one culture and period open to interpretation through data drawn from other social groups in different geographical areas and temporal periods, thus forming the basis of the comparative method in folkloristics, anthropology, sociology, and other social sciences.