Study Guide: Sociocultural Systems

Readings:

An Essay on Sociocultural Materialism

Glossary:
Look these words up in the Glossary of Social Science; study them and be ready for fill-ins on the next exam:

zweckrational	infrastructural determinism	infrastructure
feedback loops	bureaucratization	intensification
mental superstructure	cultural superstructure	mode of production
pollution	superstructure	environment
secondary group structure	depletion	rationalization
primary group structure	structure	mode of reproduction

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Essays:

On your next exam you will be asked to demonstrate that you have read and mastered the course material.  You should take the time now to answer the following essay questions to create your study guide for that exam. Address the questions fully and completely in your own words and voice. Prepare your answers now. 

1. According to Foster, what is the relationship between imperialism and ecology?

2. How does Foster propose we solve the environmental crisis?

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Short Answers:

The following short answer questions are from your readings and may well appear on your next exam. Each can be answered with a short paragraph of three or four sentences; please use your own words and voice. You are encouraged to answer these questions now to create your study guide for that exam.

1. According to cultural materialism, what are the component parts of sociocultural systems? How do these parts relate to one another?
2. What are the two key assumptions of cultural materialism?
3. According to cultural materialism, what human behaviors are instinctual in nature?
4. What one human need is not shared with other primates?
5. How does the act of dieting fit in with out biological and psychological needs?
6. "Depletion/pollution are two sides of the same coin." How?
7. How do societies adapt to environmental constraints?
8. What does the "mode of reproduction" consist of? How does it work?
9. What are the technological characteristics of an advanced horticultural society?
10. Define and describe the social structure of sociocultural systems.
11. Distinguish between secondary and primary groups.
12. What is zweckrational? How does it relate to rationalization?
13. Briefly describe and characterize the intensification process.
14. Briefly describe and characterize the bureaucratization process.
15. Briefly describe and characterize the rationalization process.
16. Why is the infrastructure given such a central role in cultural materialism?
17. According to cultural materialism, what is the relationship between ideas and material conditions?
18. Cultural materialism is a research strategy. How?
19. What are feedback loops? How do they operate?
20. Compare and contrast: materialist-idealist.
21. What are the characteristics of bureaucracy?
22. How does rationalization promote the growth of bureaucracy?
23. How do rationalization and bureaucratization promote the intensification process?
24. What is negative feedback? Give an original example.
25. When is sociocultural change most likely to be resisted? When is it likely to be amplified and propagated?
26. What is the role of elites in cultural materialism?
27. What does intensification have to do with social problems?
28. What does Harris mean by convergence?
29. According to Harris, what is centralization? What makes it possible?

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Demonstrations, Illustrations, & Examples:

Marvin Harris on Cults:

Marvin Harris on Religion:

Marvin Harris on Gay Subculture:

 

Marvin Harris on Cultural Convergence:

Marvin Harris on Centralization:

 

Marvin Harris on Life Expectancy:

 

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Names to Know:

Marvin Harris

John Bellamy Foster

George Ritzer

Practice Quiz 

Bibliography:

Elwell, Frank F.  1994.  The Evolution of the Future.  New York:  Praeger. 

Goldschmidt, Walter. 1990. The Human Career: The Self in the Symbolic World. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. 

Harris, Marvin. 1974.  Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches:  The Riddles of Culture. New York: Vintage. 

Harris, Marvin.  1977.  Cannibals and Kings:  The Origins of Cultures. New York: Vintage. 

Harris, Marvin.  1979.  Cultural Materialism:  The Struggle for a Science of Culture.  New York: Random House. 

Harris, Marvin.  1981.  America Now:  The Anthropology of a Changing Culture.  New York: Simon & Schuster. 

Heilbroner, Robert.  [1974] 1980.  An Inquiry Into the Human Prospect, Updated and Reconsidered for the 1980s.  New York:  W.W. Norton. 

Lenski, Gerhard , Patrick Nolan, and Jean Lenski.  1995.  Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology.  New York: McGraw-Hill. 

Weber, Max.  1946.  From Max Weber.  Translated and edited by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills.  New York: Galaxy. 

Weber, Max. [1921] 1978.  Economy and Society.  Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich.  Berkley: University of California Press. 

Weber, Max.  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.