Studying Societies and Cultures

Download or read book Studying Societies and Cultures written by Lawrence A. Kuznar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-03 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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.