Lacking commitment to any single theory, many social scientists today
spin out seemingly endless explanations and mini theories that contribute
little understanding to what is going on. This site is old-fashioned in
the sense that it is openly committed to a theoretical scheme. Cultural
materialism is an ecological- evolutionary systems theory that attempts
to account for the origin, maintenance and change of sociocultural systems.
The foundation of Harris' theory of Cultural Materialism 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 the society.
A good deal of Harris' work, therefore, is concerned with explaining
cultural systems (norms, ideologies, values, beliefs) and widespread social
institutions and practices through the use of population, production, and
ecological variables. The infrastructure represent technologies and
practices by which sociocultural systems adapt to their environments.
Because this activity is so crucial to the survival of individuals and
sociocultural systems, Harris maintains, the adoption of these technologies
will have tremendous impact on human institutions and cultural values and
beliefs.
Harris fully explores the impact of productive and reproductive factors
on social institutions (such as the family, the workplace, religion) and
widespread ideals, ideologies and beliefs (feminism, eating taboos, cow
worship). However, contrary to some assertions, Harris does not claim that
structural and superstructural factors are merely dependent upon a society's
infrastructure. Rather, he sees structural and superstructural factors
in interaction with population level and production processes.
Harris' framework is capable of integrating a diverse range of theoretical
insights and empirical observations within its scope. In particular,
Harris' concept of structure and superstructure can be further developed
to incorporate more diverse sociological and anthropological theory (see
Elwell,
1999). But his insistence that relationships between population
and production are at the base of all sociocultural systems, and that this
base must necessarily have a profound effect on the rest of the system,
are the core of Cultural Materialist theory.
Theoretical Roots:
Marvin Harris has been influenced by many classical theorists, but he
is especially beholden to T. Robert Malthus and Karl Marx. Malthus for
his work on the relationships between population and food- production,
as well as the effects of population growth on both the environment and
the rest of the social system. Karl Marx for placing the forces of
production at the foundation of the social system.
Ironically, both Malthus and Marx are probably the two most maligned
and misunderstood of the classical theorists. Like many do with Harris,
there is a tendency for critics to mangle and then quickly dismiss their
work. (Actually, Marx had a good deal to do with the misrepresentation
of Malthus' theory.) However, again like Harris, both are far more
subtle and prescient than their critics give them credit for.
The brief biography of Harris in the online encyclopedias all read pretty
much the same. Here is a typical entry (from the Slider
Encyclopedia):
"Harris, Marvin, 1927–, American anthropologist, b. New York City, grad.
Columbia (A.B., 1949; Ph.D., 1953). A member of the faculty of Columbia
(1952–81), he was chairman of the anthropology dept. (1963–66). He then
became a graduate research professor of anthropology at the Univ. of Florida
in Gainesville (1981–). Harris's major research has consisted of community
studies in Latin America and ethnologies of Africa. He was very influential
in the development of the theory of cultural materialism. He wrote Patterns
of Race in the Americas (1964), The Rise of Anthropological Theory (1968),
Cannibals and Kings (1977), America Now (1981), Cultural Materialism (1979),
Good to Eat (1986), and Our Kind (1989)."
Obituaries:
DIED. MARVIN HARRIS, 74, provocative mainstream anthropologist who promoted
"cultural materialism," the idea that human social life forms in response
to practical problems; in Gainesville, Fla. Among his theories: Aztec cannibals
were protein-deprived; warfare was a way of curbing populations when protein
became scarce; and a necktie signaled that a man was above physical labor.
Time Magazine, Milesones, November 12, 2001.
By Myrna Oliver
Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, October 31, 2001; Page B07
Marvin Harris, 74, an anthropologist who espoused a number of controversial
theories about the evolution of human cultures, among them the idea that
Aztecs practiced ritualistic human sacrifice and cannibalism because they
needed animal protein, died Oct. 25 in Gainesville, Fla., after hip surgery.
Dr. Harris wrote 17 books detailing his observations about the global
processes that account for human origins. He taught cultural anthropology
at Columbia University and the University of Florida. He was also chairman
of the general anthropology division of the American Anthropological Association.
Dr. Harris, who was born in Brooklyn, developed a guiding philosophy
that human habits develop to fill basic needs in the most economical way.
He called his theory "cultural materialism" and used the phrase as the
title of a book published in 1979.
"Westerners think that Indians would rather starve than eat their cows.
What they don't understand is that they will starve if they do eat their
cows,"
he once told Psychology Today. "During droughts and famines in India, farmers
who succumb to the temptation to kill their cows seal their [own] doom;
for when the rains come they will be unable to plow their fields."
Other theories espoused by Dr. Harris:
• Jews and Muslims ban eating pork because pigs eat the same food as
humans and provide nothing in return but bacon and ham, while sheep, goats
and cattle eat grass but provide wool, milk and labor as well as protein.
• The Yanomamo of the South American rain forest wage war because overhunting
produces food shortages.
• Dogs are considered unfit to eat in North America and areas where
they are needed to hunt other animals supplying abundant protein, but are
delicacies in countries that have little game or other edible animals.
• Over the centuries, horses have been good to eat or bad to eat, depending
on the need for them as beasts of burden and modes of travel.
• Appliances and other machines break because manufacturing executives
today worry more about the bottom line and finding a better job than about
product quality.
Other anthropologists and observers had almost as many opinions about
Dr. Harris as he had about why people behave as they do. Smithsonian magazine
called him "one of the most controversial anthropologists alive." The Washington
Post described him as "a storm center in his field," and the Los Angeles
Times accused him of "overgeneralized assumptions."
Yet reviewers found his book-length theories "witty and cogent," "such
fun to read" and "marvelously readable" and considered him "sure of his
ground and articulate."
Dr. Harris earned his bachelor's degree and doctorate from Columbia
University and taught there from 1952 to 1980, serving as chairman of its
Anthropology Department for three years. For the past two decades, he was
a graduate research professor at the University of Florida.
In 1971, Dr. Harris published "Culture, People and Nature: An Introduction
to General Anthropology," which is widely used as an anthropology textbook.
But most of his books were aimed at mainstream audiences. They often
had titles as intriguing as the theories they documented: "Cows, Pigs,
Wars and Witches," "Cannibals and Kings," "Good to Eat," "The Sacred Cow
and the Abominable Pig." In his 1981 book, "America Now: Why Nothing Works,"
the anthropologist recommended radically decentralizing the economy.
The Introduction, Harris' Cultural Materialism PowerPoint,
and the essays The Cultural Materialist Research Strategy and A
Sociological Revision are copyrighted by Frank Elwell. Should
you wish to use the PowerPoint in class, you have my permission. Should
you wish to quote from any of this material the format should be as follows:
Elwell, Frank, 2001, Marvin Harris' Cultural Materialism, Retrieved
June 1, 2001 (use actual date), http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Harris/Index
