Studying Societies and Cultures: Marvin Harris's Cultural Materialism and Its LegacyLawrence A. Kuznar, Stephen K. Sanderson "A thought-provoking, stimulating volume on the past, present and future of cultural materialism that is both laudatory of Harris' research strategy and critical of it." Paul Shankman, University of Colorado One of the most important anthropologists of all time, Marvin Harris was influential worldwide as the founder of cultural materialism. This book accessibly analyzes Harris's theories and their important legacies today. The chapters explore cultural materialism's epistemology and its relation to rational choice theory, Darwinian social science, and population pressures. The authors assess recent attempts to extend and reformulate cultural materialism and highlight cross-cultural, archaeological, and ethnographic applications of cultural materialism today. |
From inside the book
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Page 38
... strategies among the Yanomamö in the Amazon is based on sociobiology , a research strategy that Harris relentlessly criticized for its biological reductionism . Harris and other cultural materialists preferred focusing on subsistence ...
... strategies among the Yanomamö in the Amazon is based on sociobiology , a research strategy that Harris relentlessly criticized for its biological reductionism . Harris and other cultural materialists preferred focusing on subsistence ...
Page 84
... strategies such as Geertzian interpretivism , Lévi - Straussian structuralism , or postmodernism lead us ? Certainly not to a greater understanding of the causes of the similarities and differences among the world's cultures . The ...
... strategies such as Geertzian interpretivism , Lévi - Straussian structuralism , or postmodernism lead us ? Certainly not to a greater understanding of the causes of the similarities and differences among the world's cultures . The ...
Page 97
... strategies according to the type of problem to be solved . When the aim is to investigate indi- vidual behavior , formalist models can be applied , with social factors such as norms or rules viewed as among the constraints faced by ...
... strategies according to the type of problem to be solved . When the aim is to investigate indi- vidual behavior , formalist models can be applied , with social factors such as norms or rules viewed as among the constraints faced by ...
Contents
A Bibliometric Analysis | 20 |
The Theoretical Legacies of Cultural Materialism | 56 |
Cultural Materialism Rational Choice and the Problem | 78 |
Copyright | |
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American analysis anthropology approach argues argument authors behavior believe biological called capitalism causal causes century Chapter chiefdoms chiefs Citation cited communities complex critical cultural materialism cultural materialist Current Darwinian determinism developed distinction ecology economic effects Ember empirical environment evidence evolution evolutionary example existence explain fact factors Figure forces groups Harris's History human ideas important increase individuals infrastructural interest islands Journal knowledge languages linguistic major male Marvin Harris Marxism materialist means nature noted organization origins particular patterns period perspective political population present Press pressure principles problem production rational reference reproductive result Review Sanderson scientific seems selection significant similar social societies sociocultural status structure subjects success suggest theoretical theory understanding University variables warfare wealth writing York