Marvin Harris 

1927-2002


 


Address the following questions fully and completely in your own words and voice; save your answers electronically. You will see at least one of these questions on your next unit exam in which you will be asked to demonstrate that you have read and mastered the material. Prepare your answers now. 
  1. What is the principle of the priority of infrastructure? 
  2. Discuss the influence of Marx and Malthus on Harris' Cultural Materialism.
  3. Why is the infrastructure given such importance in Cultural Materialism?
  4. What is the role of the elite in sociocultural stability and change?
  5. What are feedback processes?
  6. According to Harris, what is the origin of capitalism? How is this related to the industrial revolution?

Required Reading:

Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists, Chapter 2: Marvin Harris's Cultural Materialism

Recommended Reading:

Cultural Materialism by Jon Marcoux

Links:

Marvin Harris' Cultural Materialism
 
Some Short Takes:

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 and Karl Marx....In addition to writing for a professional audience Harris also writes for a broader public.
 

Harris' Major Works:

1968.  The Rise of Anthropological Theory. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

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

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

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

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

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

1985. Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture.  Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.

1990.  Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We Came From, and Where We Are Going. New York: Harper Collins.

1999.  Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times. California: AltaMira Press.
 

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  İFrank Elwell
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