The problem of "Primitive"

In the second chapter of What Is Art For?, Ellen D. discusses the problem with with using the term "primitive" in regards to societies (as well as their arts and culture). She suggests that while there are no satisfactory synonyms, the use of "primitive" often suggests societies that are "undeveloped and lacking complexity" (pg. 43, 2). Such connotations leads to the mistaken justification in the belief that these societies are inferior (to our "modern" Western society) and less evolved. While many traditional societies lack our dependence on technology and our level of literacy, Ellen D. argues that all cultures are highly evolved. However, despite her problems with the term, Ellen D. chooses to use it in "a descriptive sense as shorthand forms to refer to placement on theoretical spectrums" (pg. 44, 3).

Interestingly Robert Layton, in his first chapter of The Anthropology of Art, chooses not to use the term "primitive" when describing the art of small-scale societies. His problem with the term lays in his problem with the conclusion that there is a definite evolution of art. To say that a society's art is "primitive" is to say that it has changed little from the artistic style of that society's origins - thus it hasn't evolved and is not sophisticated (similar to Ellen D.'s discussion). As with all other modern societies, those which are determined as "primitive" to the western world "show a wide diversity of forms all far removed from their origins. While Ellen D., sought to find direct differences between "primitive" and "modern", Robert layton aims to examine "universal principles of artistic expression" and "diversity of fashions".

My position regarding the concept of "primitive art" is perhaps more similar to that of Layton's. My understanding of our species evolution is that it is not linear, and to suggest that the evolution of art is (cave paintings to Jackson Pollock) would completely dismiss all other traditions of art other than that of the Western canon. While we may look at our industrial economy and technologically advanced society as the ideal of "modern", we have to realize that such a term is completely culturally relative.