<Li> the social cycle theory </Li> <Li> the Marxist theory of historical materialism . </Li> <P> These theories had a common factor: they all agreed that the history of humanity is pursuing a certain fixed path, most likely that of social progress . Thus, each past event is not only chronologically, but causally tied to present and future events . The theories postulated that by recreating the sequence of those events, sociology could discover the "laws" of history . </P> <P> While sociocultural evolutionists agree that an evolution - like process leads to social progress, classical social evolutionists have developed many different theories, known as theories of unilineal evolution . Sociocultural evolutionism became the prevailing theory of early sociocultural anthropology and social commentary, and is associated with scholars like Auguste Comte, Edward Burnett Tylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, Benjamin Kidd, L.T. Hobhouse and Herbert Spencer . Sociocultural evolutionism attempted to formalise social thinking along scientific lines, with the added influence from the biological theory of evolution . If organisms could develop over time according to discernible, deterministic laws, then it seemed reasonable that societies could as well . Human society was compared to a biological organism, and social science equivalents of concepts like variation, natural selection, and inheritance were introduced as factors resulting in the progress of societies . The idea of progress led to that of a fixed "stages" through which human societies progress, usually numbering three--savagery, barbarism, and civilization--but sometimes many more . As early as the late 18th century, the Marquis de Condorcet (1743--1794) listed ten stages, or "epochs", each advancing the rights of man and perfecting the human race . At that time, anthropology was rising as a new scientific discipline, separating from the traditional views of "primitive" cultures that was usually based on religious views . </P>

Who believed in an intermediate society and the value of traditions