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Cultural materialism:

the struggle for a science of culture
Front Cover
2 Reviews
Rowman Altamira, 2001 - Social Science - 381 pages
Cultural Materialism, published in 1979, was Marvin Harris's first full-length explication of the theory with which his work has been associated. While Harris has developed and modified some of his ideas over the past two decades, generations of professors have looked to this volume as the essential starting point for explaining the science of culture to students. Now available again after a hiatus, this edition of Cultural Materialism contains the complete text of the original book plus a new introduction by Orna and Allen Johnson that updates his ideas and examines the impact that the book and theory have had on anthropological theorizing.
  

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Review: Cultural Materialism

User Review - Goodreads

Harris is enjoyably pugnacious when it comes to discussing his rivals. His section on Levi-Strauss had me laughing out loud.

Review: Cultural Materialism

User Review  - Chuck - Goodreads

I never fail to meet a conservation practicioner who has not reported what an eye-openner it was to read Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Diamond has ... Read full review

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Selected pages

Contents

Research Strategies and the Structure of Science
5
The Epistemology of Cultural Materialism
29
Theoretical Principles of Cultural Materialism
46
The Scope of Cultural Materialist Theories
77
The Alternatives
115
Introduction To Part II
117
Sociobiology and Biological Reductionism
119
Dialectical Materialism
141
Structuralism
165
Structural Marxism
216
Psychological and Cognitive Idealism
258
Eclecticism
287
Obscurantism
315
Bibliography
343
Index
371
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Cultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
Cultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
Marvin Harris
Snippet view - 2001
Cultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
Cultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
Marvin Harris
Snippet view - 1979
Cultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
Cultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
Marvin Harris
Snippet view - 1980
View all »

Common terms and phrases

agriculture alternative animals anthropology Aztec behavior stream Bella Bella capitalism capitalist cattle causal chiefdoms clam siphons cognitivism complex components concepts contradictions cultural materialism cultural materialist cultural materialist theories descent groups determines dialectical dialectical materialism distinction domestic eclectic eclecticism ecological economic emic and etic empirical Engels epistemological etic and behavioral etic behavioral evolution example exchange existence explain exploitation fact factors female function genetic Harris Hence horse clams human social hunter-gatherer ibid idealist ideology infanticide kinship knowledge Kwakiutl labor Levi-Strauss logical male marriage Marx Marx's matrilateral matrilineal means meat mode of production nature negation ogress organization paradigms patterns phenomena political population positivism poverty predict principles processes protein relations of production relationship research strategy role ruling class Sahlins scientific societies sociobiology sociocultural systems specific structural and superstructural structural Marxists structuralist taboo theoretical thought tion traits truth ture village warfare women

References to this book

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References from web pages

Cultural Materialism
1979 Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. New York, Random House. Harris, Marvin. 1980 History and Ideological Significance of the ...
www.as.ua.edu/ ant/ Faculty/ murphy/ cultmat.htm

Cultural materialism (anthropology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. Updated Edition. Walnut Creek: Altamira. Moore, Jerry D. 2004. ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Cultural_materialism_(anthropology)

DISCIPLINES & SUBDISCIPLINES - CULTURAL MATERIALISM
1979 Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of culture. New York: Random House. 1992 "Anthropology and the Theoretical and Paradigmatic ...
www.indiana.edu/ ~wanthro/ theory_pages/ Materialism.htm

JSTOR: Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture
Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. Mattnn Harris. New York: Random House, 1979. xii + 381 pp. $15.00 (cloth). ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0002-7294(198006)2%3A82%3A2%3C423%3ACMTSFA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3

Marvin Harris (1927-2001, The United States)
Marvin Harris (1927-2001, The United States). The Neomaterialist, Marvin Harris, developed the approach of Cultural Materialism, which explains culture ...
www.mnsu.edu/ emuseum/ cultural/ anthropology/ Harris.html

cultural materialism: Definition and Much More from Answers.com
As Harris said in his Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. Ruling groups throughout history and prehistory have always promoted the ...
www.answers.com/ topic/ cultural-materialism

Cultural Materialism
Cultural Materialism - Marvin Harris and The Rise of Anthropological Theory. Comparisons to Marxist Materialism and other anthropological doctrines
www.allaboutphilosophy.org/ cultural-materialism.htm

Cultural Materialism
Centenary > ETC > Cultural Materialism. etc: ecology, technology, culture · about us | course | links · Anthropocentrism ...
www.centenary.edu/ etc/ cultural

University of Chicago Press - Natural Selection, Energetics, and ...
All Journals > Current Anthropology > December 1981 > Natural Selection, Energetics, and "Cultural Materialism". Current Anthropology ...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/ cgi-bin/ resolve?id=doi:10.1086/ 202745

Marvin Harris
From Cultural Materialism - The Struggle for a Science of Culture: (1979). "Cultural Materialism is the strategy I have found to be the most effective in my ...
grids.jonmattox.com/ people/ harris.html

About the author (2001)

Marvin Harris is in the department of anthropology at the University of Florida.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Cultural materialism
TitleCultural materialism: the struggle for a science of culture
updated ed
AuthorMarvin Harris
Editionillustrated
PublisherRowman Altamira, 2001
ISBN0759101353, 9780759101357
Length381 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural
  
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