ABSTRACT
"A thought-provoking, stimulating volume on the past, present and future of cultural materialism that is both laudatory of Harris' research strategy and critical of it." Paul Shankman, University of Colorado One of the most important anthropologists of all time, Marvin Harris was influential worldwide as the founder of cultural materialism. This book accessibly analyzes Harris's theories and their important legacies today. The chapters explore cultural materialism's epistemology and its relation to rational choice theory, Darwinian social science, and population pressures. The authors assess recent attempts to extend and reformulate cultural materialism and highlight cross-cultural, archaeological, and ethnographic applications of cultural materialism today.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|47 pages
The Legacy of Cultural Materialism: I
chapter 1|36 pages
The Impact of Cultural Materialism
part II|38 pages
The Epistemology of Cultural Materialism
chapter 4|25 pages
Cultural Materialism, Rational Choice, and the Problem of General Ethnography
part III|64 pages
Applications of Cultural Materialism
chapter 5|24 pages
Materialist Particularity in Nuclear Micronesia
chapter 6|25 pages
Linking Past and Present
chapter 7|14 pages
Effects of the Physical and Social Environment on Culture
part IV|62 pages
The Darwinian Challenge to Cultural Materialism
chapter 10|35 pages
Marvin Harris, Meet Charles Darwin
part V|32 pages
The Legacy of Cultural Materialism: II