Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture

by Marvin Harris

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759116962
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	08/28/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	408
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

	Introduction to the Updated Edition	vi
	Preface	xv
	Acknowledgments	xix
	About the Author	xx
Part I	Cultural Materialism as a Research Strategy
	Introduction to Part I	3
1	Research Strategies and the Structure of Science	5
2	The Epistemology of Cultural Materialism	29
3	Theoretical Principles of Cultural Materialism	46
4	The Scope of Cultural Materialist Theories	77
Part II	The Alternatives
	Introduction to Part II	117
5	Sociobiology and Biological Reductionism	119
6	Dialectical Materialism	141
7	Structuralism	165
8	Structural Marxism	216
9	Psychological and Cognitive Idealism	258
10	Eclecticism	287
11	Obscurantism	315
	Bibliography	343
	Index	371

Editorial Reviews

The most important anthropological statement of the nature and meaning of cultural anthropology that has thus far appeared.

Psychology Today - Ashley Montagu

Harris achieves a standard of theoretical exposition that is rare in anthropology.

Science - Bruce Trigger

Harris achieves a standard of theoretical exposition that is rare in anthropology.
— Bruce Trigger

Science

The most important anthropological statement of the nature and meaning of cultural anthropology that has thus far appeared.
— Ashley Montagu

Psychology Today