Anthropologist Leslie Alvin White (1900–1975) focused on harnessing and controlling energy. White believed that controlling energy is the primary purpose and function of any culture.
White identified five stages of human development, as follows:

Stage  1: Energy comes from human muscle power.
Stage 2: Humans harness the energy of domesticated animals. We raise and herd livestock      for food energy. We use other animals, especially the horse, as transport      as well as mounts for warriors and hunters.
Stage 3: We  engage in the agricultural revolution, which provides surplus food energy      to extend the value of Stage 2.
Stage 4: Especially as expressed in the Industrial Revolution, we harness the power of natural      resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Stage 5: We harness and rely on nuclear energy. (White was perhaps too optimistic      about our ability to harness nuclear energy, given its dangerous      drawbacks.)