What are the criticisms of Alvin Leslie White an American anthropologist?

Answer 1

Leslie White creates formulas to explain aspects of cultural development. For example, in his book "The Evolution of Culture" he describes the organization of a prehuman, anthropoid family with the formula: F = f x c (where f represents the factor of sex and c represents the corporative endeavor of the family in subsistence and defensive-offensive strategies)

White's most famous formula is C = T x E (E represents the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year and T represents technology or the efficiency of the tools used for exploiting the energy, and C represent the degree of cultural deleopment)

These equations have been criticized for one major reason. Although they seem to produce neat and discrete answers from scientifically measurable variables, the opposite is actually true. Variables such as the efficiency of tools within a society or the corporative strategies of a family group have no concrete quantitative values which can be measured, weighed, or otherwise garnered. Any system that produces a value for these variables would be completely arbitrary and pseudoscientific at best. As a result, the formulas presented by White offer little value beyond depicting the relationship of one variable to another. In addition, if no reliable numerical value can be reliably produced by White's formulas, than he has no basis for comparing the cultural advancement of one society to another, which is an important aspect of his work.