historical particularism

The central component of Franz Boas 's attack on nineteenth-century evolutionism and the comparative method (see evolution and evolutionism). Historical particularism is rooted in the notion that each culture is unique and intelligible only on its own terms and, consequently, is not readily assimilable to the cross-cultural generalizations and broad evolutionary schemata that were popular in the late nineteenth century. Boas advocated a holistic and descriptive approach to the study of culture, in the process challenging the scientific ambitions that led anthropologists to propose laws of change and social organization. Historical particularism has come to be synonymous with that perspective. Despite the reemergence of evolutionary arguments, historical particularism still underwrites a great deal of anthropological and historical writing, especially in the United States.