Marvin Harris

1927-2002

The foundation of Harris's theory of cultural materialism (CM) is that a society's mode of production (technology and work patterns, especially in regard to food) and mode of reproduction (population level and growth) in interaction with the natural environment has profound effects on sociocultural stability and change. Societies are systems, Harris asserts, and widespread social practices and beliefs must be compatible with the infrastructures of society (the modes of production and reproduction and their interaction with the environment). The infrastructure represents the ways in which a society regulates both the type and amount of resources needed to sustain a society. I believe Marvin Harris to be the most outstanding social scientist of his generation. Like the founders of the discipline (and unlike most social scientists of the day) he relates his analysis to the larger social system. His theory of cultural materialism is a ecological-evolutionary social theory very much influenced by T. Robert Malthus.

Readings: Chapter 2: Marvin Harris's Cultural Materialism in Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists.

Glossary:
Look these words up in your chapter reading or in the Glossary of Social Science; study them and be ready for fill-in-the-blanks on the next exam:

Infrastructure	structure	cultural materialism	superstructure
feedback loop	intensification	environmental constraints	bureaucracy
environment	mode of production	technology	mode of reproduction
bureaucratization	rationalization	political economy	intensification
behavioral superstructure	mental superstructure	domestic economy	primary group
secondary group	infrastructural determinism	universal structure of societies	primacy of the infrastructure
sociocultural systems	ideology	hyperindustrial society	materialism
relations of production	forces of production	exponential growth	oligopoly

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.

What is the role of the elite in sociocultural stability and change?
How does Harris explain the domestication of plants and animals in human prehistory?

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.

What is the principle of the priority of the infrastructure?
Why is the infrastructure given such importance in Cultural Materialism?
What are feedback processes?
In what ways is cultural materialism a systems theory?
What are the two primary constraints on human societies?
Through what practices can sociocultural systems modify the these constraints?
What are the limits on human food production?
Why did Harris change from "infrastructural determinism" to "primacy of the infrastructure"?
What is negative feedback?
In general, what sorts of sociocultural change are most likely to be swiftly and widely adopted?
Describe the selection process for responsible for the evolution of sociocultural systems.
What are the four basic biological/psychological needs or constants of human beings?
What is the role of elites within cultural materialism?
Why do societies tend to intensification?
Where in his universal structure does Harris place Marx's relations of production?
How has industrialization transformed capitalism?
What role does the mental superstructure play in cultural materialism?
Why was the New World much slower in its domestication of plants and animals?
According to Harris, what are the distinctive features of capitalism?

Links:

Marvin Harris' Cultural Materialism

Cultural Materialism by Jon Marcoux

Bibliography:

Harris, M. (1981). America Now: The Anthropology of a Changing Culture. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Harris, M. (1977). Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures. New York: Vintage Books.

Harris, M. (1974). Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches: The Riddles of Culture. New York: Vintage Books.

Harris, M. (1979). Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culturre. New York: Random House.

Harris, M. (1971). Culture, Man, and Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

Harris, M. (1989). Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We Came From, and Where We Are Going. New York: HarperCollins.

Harris, M. (1968). The Rise of Anthropological Theory. New York: Crowell.

Harris, M. (1998). Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.

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