Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times

by Marvin Harris

Overview

Marvin Harris is arguably the most influential, prolific anthropological theorist of our time. This book brings together many of the strands of his work of the past two decades into a unified, contemporary statement on anthropological theory and practice. In this book, he presents his current views on the nature of culture addressing such issues as the mental/behavioral debate, emics and etics, and anthropological holism. He resoundly critiques many current theoretical trends_from sociobiology to postmodernism to Afrocentrism. And he offers a cultural materialist perspective on diverse contemporary issues such as the IQ question and the fall of communism. Harris' thought-provoking and controversial theoretical views will be required reading for all anthropologists, social theorists, and their students.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759117426
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	10/16/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	406 KB

About the Author

University of Florida

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2
Chapter I: CONCEPTUALIZING CULTURE
Chapter 3 1. What is (are) Culture(s)?
Chapter 4 2. Emics and Etics
Chapter 5 3. The Nature of Cultural Things
Chapter 6 4. Science, Objectivity, Morality
Chapter 7
Chapter II: BIOLOGY AND CULTURE
Chapter 8 5. De-biologizing Culture: The Boasians
Chapter 9 6. Biologizing Inequality
Chapter 10 7. IQ Is Not Forever
Chapter 11 8. Neo-Darwinism
Chapter 12 9. Confronting Ethnomania
Chapter 13
Chapter III: EXPLANATORY PRINCIPLES
Chapter 14 10. Holism
Chapter 15 11. Cultural Materialism
Chapter 16 12. Post-Modernism
Chapter 17
Chapter IV: MACRO-EVOLUTION
Chapter 18 13. Origins of Capitalism
Chapter 19 14. The Soviet Collapse
Chapter 20 References
Chapter 21 About the Author
Chapter 22 Index

Editorial Reviews

A unification of many of the author's ideas over the last two decades into a contemporary statement on anthropological theory and practice. Harris (emeritus, anthropology, Columbia U.) presents his current views on the nature of culture, addressing such issues as the mental/behavioral debate, emics and etics, and anthropological holism. Along the way he critiques many modern trends, from sociobiology to postmodernism to Afrocentrism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

[Harris] is an especially acute guide.. .. [He] has written an excellent book for students. Its references are wide-ranging, its arguments always succinctly stated, its sentiments critical and truth-seeking...His clear-eyed depiction of the deficiencies of the rearguard arguments of Marxists is a particular treat.

International Studies in Philosophy - I. C. Jarvie

'Let the grinches who stole culture give it back,' demands Harris in this very readable and vigorous call for a revival of a science-oriented anthropology.. .. Harris argues that a cultural materialist research strategy is a necessary antidote to misdirections in anthropological theory such as the 'anything goes' eclecticism and antiscientific epistemology of postmodernism, as well as to the misuses of science within neo-Darwinism and other forms of biological reductionism. Familiar arguments and interpretations are revived and applied to topics such as the origins of capitalism, the demise of the Soviet Union, historical inaccuracies in Afrocentrism and other examples of 'ethnomania,' and blatant racism in Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve. The book may be welcomed for the opportunity it offers to a new generation of students to review some of the major theoretical controversies found within anthropology over the past four decades.. .. General readers, upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.

Choice Reviews - B. Tavakolian

'Let the grinches who stole culture give it back, ' demands Harris in this very readable and vigorous call for a revival of a science-oriented anthropology. . . . Harris argues that a cultural materialist research strategy is a necessary antidote to misdirections in anthropological theory such as the 'anything goes' eclecticism and antiscientific epistemology of postmodernism, as well as to the misuses of science within neo-Darwinism and other forms of biological reductionism. Familiar arguments and interpretations are revived and applied to topics such as the origins of capitalism, the demise of the Soviet Union, historical inaccuracies in Afrocentrism and other examples of 'ethnomania, ' and blatant racism in Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve. The book may be welcomed for the opportunity it offers to a new generation of students to review some of the major theoretical controversies found within anthropology over the past four decades. . . . General readers, upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.--B. Tavakolian, Denison University "CHOICE "

[Harris] is an especially acute guide. . . . [He] has written an excellent book for students. Its references are wide-ranging, its arguments always succinctly stated, its sentiments critical and truth-seeking...His clear-eyed depiction of the deficiencies of the rearguard arguments of Marxists is a particular treat.--I. C. Jarvie "International Studies in Philosophy, Vol. Xxxv. No.2, 2003 "

From the Publisher

Let the grinches who stole culture give it back,' demands Harris in this very readable and vigorous call for a revival of a science-oriented anthropology. . . . Harris argues that a cultural materialist research strategy is a necessary antidote to misdirections in anthropological theory such as the 'anything goes' eclecticism and antiscientific epistemology of postmodernism, as well as to the misuses of science within neo-Darwinism and other forms of biological reductionism. Familiar arguments and interpretations are revived and applied to topics such as the origins of capitalism, the demise of the Soviet Union, historical inaccuracies in Afrocentrism and other examples of 'ethnomania,' and blatant racism in Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve. The book may be welcomed for the opportunity it offers to a new generation of students to review some of the major theoretical controversies found within anthropology over the past four decades. . . . General readers, upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty.
— B. Tavakolian, Denison University

Choice