Cultural Materialism

Outline
Introduction Profile of the founder of Theory The Background of Theory Explanation of the Theory Examples from the work of Marvin Harris Contribution to Anthropology Criticism Bibliography

Introduction
Cultural Materialism is anthropological theory that tend to explain that how the practical conditions of human beings influence the cultural patterns. In Harris words Cultural Materialism is based on the simple premise that human social life is a response to the practical problems of earthly existence(1979: ix) It places key importance to the empirical science, focusing on the observable phenomenon rather than on subjective thoughts and behaviors It emerged in late 1960s

Profile of the founder of the Theory

Conti
Dr Marvin Harris (August 18, 1927 October 25, 2001) Was born in Brooklyn, America in the times of Great Depression He joined army toward the end of the 2nd World war, in order to receive funding for his higher studies in Columbia University He was a voracious reader and a very intelligent man, in his graduation years, he spent hours on race track, and managed to evolve a complex mathematical formula to win a bet, he used to support his wife Madelyn with his winnings. He produced his early work with his mentor Charles Wagley, who was also his supervisor in graduation, in Brazil under the influence of Boasian tradition (Which he would denounce in his later works) He was given assistant professor post in Columbia University in 1957, which turned and refined him as a vibrant anthropologist. He remained in columbia university till 1980

Conti
In 1968 he produced his magnum opus, The Rise of Anthropological Theory he traced the origins of Anthropological theory from 1750 to date, he also set himself as the future cultural materialist in this work. The book also included the systematic postulates of the cultural materialism Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture, published in 1974, provided a cultural materialist analysis of phenomena Harris referred to as "cultural riddles. In 1977, Harris's Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures provided a more systematic presentation of his evolutionary approach to culture and society. Harris outlined a precise theoretical model of social evolution, applying it to the last ten thousand years of human existence. In Cannibals and Kings Harris identified the historical processes of population growth, ecological depletion, and technological change as the primary forces behind the evolution of all major cultural forms. When Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture was published in 1979, Harris introduced his complete cultural materialist perspective. In addition to his more systematic presentation of the basic principles of cultural materialism, this work also contained many illuminating critiques of other major anthropological theoretical perspectives, for example boasinian tradition.

Conti.
In 1981, Harris produced a short volume entitled America Now: The Anthropology of a Changing Culture, which provided a cultural materialist analysis of significant transitions in American culture since World War II. Four years later Harris published Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture, This work was devoted to an examination of food taboos and dietary patterns throughout history and around the world. Utilizing a cultural materialist framework, Harris explained how the material circumstances of everyday life have historically influenced nutritional practices in a variety of cultural settings. One of Harris's most recent and influential publications Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We Came From, and Where We Are Going, a collection of essays published in 1990, focused specifically upon the origin and evolution of human beings. In Our Kind Harris explained how humans evolved from lower primates. Harris also asserted that the human acquisition of the ability to speak was integral to the historical development of the variety of diverse cultures throughout the world Although Harris has been slow on producing a book after 1990, but not idle. He is been actively writing articles, book reviews and giving many interviews and participating in public debates until his death in 2001.

Background of the theory

The theory is a somehow continuation of the materialistic approach to understand the societies, that started with the Karl Marx. This paradigm focuses much on the material aspects of the culture, and less on the symbolic and behavioral aspects of the society. His early research focused on Latin America, primarily Brazil, which led him to study Angola and Mozambique, former African colonies of Portugal. His first book, Town and Country in Brazil (1956), was based on fieldwork in Minas Velhasliterally Old Mines in Portuguese. Town and Country in Brazil is an early introduction to Harriss research agenda and his emphasis on infrastructure, which he later defines as the technological, economic, demographic, and environmental activities and conditions directly related to sustaining health and well-being through the social control of production and reproduction . (Distinction from Marx) Harriss work in Brazil led to issues of race, as discussed in Minorities in the New World (1958), which he coauthored with Charles Wagley, and his later book, Patterns of Race in the Americas 1964). Patterns of Race in the Americas is a brief (ninety-nine pages), densely packed discussion of the roots of racism in the Americas, and it was published during the civil rights movementthe march on Selma, the freedom riders, and the inspiring oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Harris contributed a powerful analysis of the economic origins of racism, constantly comparing the history of racism in Latin America and the United States. He traced the varying contours of unequal race relations between American Indians, Africans, and Europeans in the Americas to the differing impositions of economic systems of plantations, haciendas, or small farm holdings. It is interesting that in the 1960s, at a time in the United States when racism was considered a matter of unequal rights, Harris argued that it had an economic basisan analysis that remains current.

Conti..
Harris gives explanatory priority to infrastructure, and that emphasis is fundamental in his 1968 magnum opus, The Rise of Anthropological Theory. The Rise of Anthropological Theory is a sprawling critique of Western thinking about the nature of culture and its evolution. Harris assessed the contributions of thinkersfrom Plato to Montesquieu to Hegeland anthropological schools from culture and personality to structuralism to cultural evolution. In the process, he expressed an opinion, frequently negative, on almost every social thinker since the Enlightenment. Although Harris apologized in advance for his severe attacks on anthropologists past and present, he felt justified because at this particular moment in the development of anthropological theory . . . critical judgments deserve priority over polite ones (1968:7). Harris attacked the dubious factual foundation on which [Ruth] Benedict reared her psycho logistic portraits (1968:404), accused Alfred Kroeber of making statements about changes in style and artistic achievement based on the effete standards of salon gossip (1968:331), and suggested that Claude Lvi-Straussfar from plumbing the hidden structures of another culturemay not even understand whats going on in his own head (1968:511).

Explanation of the Theory

Harris used the marxist model of super-structure and base, although he added a lot in this model, yet it is considered that his model is highly influenced by Marx and Thomas Malthus. Basic Concepts of cultural materialism According to Harris 1. Infrastructure: systems of production and reproduction It includes - the basic practices that provide for survival and continuation of the society, especially subsistence (food production practices) and technology, but also other basics such as how people survive the weather (housing, clothing, heating, moving seasonally, etc.) how they move around (walking, horseback, cars, etc.) and trade: how they exchange these necessary goods and so on 2. Structure: how social relations are arranged social organization, kinship, distribution of wealth and status (such as social classes) organization of power (politics)

Conti..
3. Superstructure: systems of meanings religion, symbols, philosophy, ideology, worldview, aesthetics (art, design, music, dance) Thus, Cultural materialism is the view that infrastructure shapes or determines structure, which in turn shapes or determines superstructure Aspects of culture can be ultimately explained in terms of survival and reproduction- these explanations usually involve subsistence, ecology, and/or economics the material realities of life largely determine the rest of culture.

Conti.
The Emic and Etic debate Distinction is between emic and etic. Emic perspectives convey a participants point of view; Etic perspectives are from an observerspoint of view. Emic operations have as their hallmark the elevation of the native informant to the status of ultimate judge of the adequacy of the observers descriptions and analyses. The test of the adequacy of Emic analyses is their ability to generate statements the native accepts as real, meaningful, or appropriate. Etic operations have as their hallmark the elevation of observers to the status of ultimate judges of the categories and concepts used in descriptions and analyses. The test of the adequacy of etic accounts is simply their ability to generate scientifically productive theories about the causes of sociocultural differences and similarities. Rather than employ concepts that are necessarily real, meaningful, and appropriate from the native point of view, the observer is free to use alien categories and rules derived from the data language of science. Frequently, Etic operations involve the measurement and juxtaposition of activities and events that native informants may find inappropriate or meaningless. (Harris 1979:32)

Conti..
In short, understanding cultural patterns first requires explaining phenomena in terms of infrastructurethe culture/nature interface, as expressed by such dimensions as subsistence, settlement, population, demography, and so onand then understanding how such changes reshape structure and superstructure.

Examples from Marvin Harris Work

Except the earlier work of Harris, all his major works revolve around his own coined paradigm Cultural Materialism. Harris coined this word as he says himself Although I did not invent cultural materialism, I am responsible for giving it its name (1979: x) Using the paradigm of the cultural materialism, Harris applied cultural materialism into practice, by analyzing the phenomenon of sacred cow in india, and also explained the fall of soviet empire.

Examples.. Sacred cow of India

To someone from the meat-eating background, the notion of cows wandering freely in India while people starve is a paradoxical waste of protein. The Hindu ban on the slaughter of cattle and the consumption of beef would seem non-adaptive, a case where cultural rules run against common sense and, by extension, an illustration that mental superstructure, and not infrastructure, is prior.(that is contrary to Harris who emphasizes on infrastructure) India has more cows than any other nation in the worldan estimated 180 million plus 50 million water buffaloa waste created by illogical religious belief, but harris does not agree with this notion, and he came up with a wonderful explanation for this through the prism of cultural materialism How the infrastructure produced a sacred cow? Was the question of research for Harris

Examples cont
Harris cites Vedic texts describing a beef-eating past (before 600 B.C.) when cattle were slaughtered for communal, carnivorous feasts. But as the human population increased and grazing lands were converted to farmlands, beef became too expensive and eventually was limited only to privileged castes. Beginning in the fifth century B.C., religions (Buddhism and Jainism) developed that banned killing, and during subsequent centuries milk, not meat, became the ritual food, and cow worship became part of Hinduism. But the need for oxen as plow animals meant that cows were always necessary. Animals are needed on small farms. Today tractors are only more efficient on larger farms, and they break down and are expensive to repair. The poorest of Indias farmers are the real owners of the supposedly stray animals wandering in the landscape; with no pasturage, the cows scavenge food from roadside vegetation, food stands, and garbage heaps. Producing little milk and only an occasional ox, the cow is nonetheless cost-efficientsufficient reason for protection from slaughter Cows are needed to pull plows (male cattle: bulls, bullocks, oxen)provide fertilizer (dung)

Examples..
provide fuel (dung) provide milk (female cattle: cows) provide leather, horn, meat, etc. to non-Hindus Supporting Indian humped cattle is almost cost-free In times of drought or famine, people would be tempted to eat them but this(eating cow in famine) would be disastrous in the longer run since next season, there would not be enough cattle to plow, fertilize, provide milk, etc. a simple rule against eating cows would not be enough to stop hungry people from doing so so a really strong, religious prohibition does the job necessary to overcomes desperate individuals short-term needs for the long-term survival benefit of the group

it may not have been invented for this practical purpose

but groups that held this belief did better than those that did not so over time, it became widespread So, Harris proves that the infrastructure is responsible for the sacredness of a cow rather than the super structure

2nd Example. The fall of Russia

Giving a lecture at the distinguish American Anthropological Association in 1992, Harris defined fall of Russian empire from the lens of cultural materialism in which the notion of infrastructure is embedded. The demise of the soviet empire was not the triumph of American Foreign policy and perestroika(the restructuring of bureaucracy and private business) but contrary it was due to infrastructural devolution On the eve of perestroika, per capita economic growth in the Soviet Union was at zero or less, grain production was unchanged over the previous decade in spite of heavy investments, and between 1970 and 1987 output per unit of input declined at the rate of 1 percent per year. Factories, agricultural equipment, generation plants, and transmission systems were worn and antiquated. The diffusion of technological innovations took three times longer in the Soviet economy than it did in the Western economies. Inadequate distribution systems meant that 20 percent to 50 percent of the wheat, potato, sugar beet, and fruit harvests were lost between farm and store, as was the decrease in life expectancy for Soviet males.

Russian example conti

Harris points out that in the 1970s1980s infant mortality increase in Kazakhstan by 14 percent, Turkmenistan by 22 percent and in Uzbekistan by 48 percent (1992). The perception that Russia was benefiting at the expense of the other republics intensified nationalistic movements. Harris concluded that degradation of the infrastructure in Soviet Union was the real cause of the Soviet collapse.

Contribution to Anthropology
Cultural materialism contributed many feathers to the tapestry of Anthropological knowledge, main contributions are a. Its research strategies that challenged anthropology to be grounded on scientific methods b. Its holistic view of anthropology, which integrates the methods and findings of all sub-fields of anthropology c. Use of clear and intelligible language and aim to communicate anthropological knowledge across boundaries. d. The belief that cultures can be studied across geographical and temporal boundaries. e. Aim to develop broad theories of culture

Criticism
Harriss argument is this: anthropology is a science, science is based on laws, infrastructure is (most likely) governed by laws, therefore anthropology should focus on infrastructure. But what if anthropology is not a search for law like generalizations? What if it is a humanistic discipline, or one that is not an experimental science in search of law, but an interpretive one in search of meaning, as Clifford Geertz (1973:5) stated. Finally, how can we be so dismissive of the informants emic viewpoint if culture is rooted in values and meanings held by individuals? Why should we give research priority to etic research focused on infrastructure when as anthropologists we are interested in the rich diversity of human cultures? Doesnt cultural materialism reduce human culture to mere matters of eating and breeding? These are some of the issues that emerged in the 1970s and later as American anthropology split into two major camps: those who argued for an anthropology grounded in the humanities and thosesuch as Marvin Harriswho advocated an anthropology modeled on natural science.

Bibliography
1968 The Rise of Anthropological Theory: A History of Theories of Culture. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. 1974 Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches: The Riddles of Culture. New York: Random House. 1977 Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures. New York: Random House. 1979 Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. New York: Random House. 1985 Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1992 Distinguished Lecture: Anthropology and the Theoretical and Paradigmatic Significance of the Collapse of Soviet and East European Communism. American Anthropologist 94:295305. 2009 Visions of culture : an introduction to anthropological theories and theorists / Jerry D. Moore. 3rd ed.

Web links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_materialism_(ant hropology) www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/cultmat.htm www.cultural-materialism.org www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Harris/Index.ht m epistemic-forms.com/FacSite/.../marvin-harris-culturematerial.htm http://www.bookrags.com/biography/marvin-harrissoc/ www.ishk.net/cultural_materialism_riddles.pdf