Marvin Harris
Encyclopedia
Marvin Harris was an American
anthropologist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. A prolific writer, he was highly influential in the development of cultural materialism
. In his work he combined Karl Marx's
emphasis on the forces of production with Thomas Malthus
's insights on the impact of demographic factors on other parts of the sociocultural system
. Labeling demographic and production factors as infrastructure
, Harris posited these factors as key in determining a society's social structure and culture. After the publication of The Rise of Anthropological Theory in 1968, Harris helped focus the interest of anthropologists in cultural-ecological relationships for the rest of his career. Many of his publications gained wide circulation among lay readers.
Over the course of his professional life, Harris drew both a loyal following and a considerable amount of criticism. He became a regular fixture at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association
where he would subject scholars to intense questioning from the floor, podium, or bar. He is considered a generalist, who had an interest in the global processes that account for human origins and the evolution of human cultures.
In his final book, Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times, Harris argued that the political consequences of postmodern theory were harmful, a critique similar to those later developed by philosopher Richard Wolin
and others.
, Harris was poor during his childhood in Brooklyn. He entered the U.S. Army toward the end of the Second World War and used funding from the G.I. Bill to enter Columbia University
along with a new generation of post-war American anthropologists. Harris was an avid reader who loved to spend hours at the race track and he eventually developed a complex mathematical betting system that was successful enough to provide support for his wife, Madelyn, and him during his years of graduate school.
Harris' early work was with his mentor, Charles Wagley
, and his dissertation research in Brazil produced an unremarkable village study that carried on the Boasian
descriptive tradition in anthropology—a tradition he would later denounce.
After graduation, Harris was given an assistant professorship at Columbia and, while undertaking fieldwork in Mozambique
in 1957, Harris underwent a series of profound transformations that altered his theoretical and political orientations.
in the late 1950s caused him to shift his focus from ideological features of culture
, toward behavioral aspects. His 1968 history of anthropological thought, The Rise of Anthropological Theory critically examined hundreds of years of social thought with the intent of constructing a viable nomothetic
understanding of human culture that Harris came to call cultural materialism
. Cultural materialism incorporated and refined Marx's categories of superstructure and base; Harris modified and amplified such core Marxist concepts as means of production and exploitation, but Harris rejected two key aspects of Marxist thought: the dialectic
, which Harris attributed to an intellectual vogue of Marx’s time; and, unity of theory and practice, which Harris regarded as an inappropriate and damaging stance for social scientists. Harris’ inclusion of demographic dynamics as determinant factors in sociocultural evolution
also contrasted with Marx’s rejection of population as a causal element.
Throughout his career, Harris grappled with the issue of the epistemological status of informants' statements. He labeled his solution as the distinction between emic and etic
distinction, which he refined considerably since its exposition in The Rise of Anthropological Theory. The terms “emic” and “etic” originated in the work of linguist Kenneth Pike, despite the latter’s conceptual differences with Harris’ constructs. As used by Marvin Harris, emic meant those descriptions and explanations that are right and meaningful to an informant or subject, whereas etic descriptions and explanations are those used by the scientific community to generate and strengthen theories of sociocultural life. That is, emic is the participant's perspective, whereas etic is the observer's. Harris had asserted that both are in fact necessary for an explanation of human thought and behavior.
Marvin Harris’ early contributions to major theoretical issues include his revision of economic surplus theory in state formation. He also became well known for formulating a materialist explanation for the treatment of “Cattle in religion
s” in Indian culture. Along with Michael Harner
, Harris is one of the scholars most associated with the suggestion that Aztec cannibalism
occurred, and was the result of protein
deficiency
in the Aztec diet. An explanation appears in Harris' book Cannibals and Kings
. Harris also invoked the human quest for animal protein to explain Yanomamo warfare, contradicting ethnographer Napoleon Chagnon
’s sociobiological explanation involving innate male human aggressiveness.
Several other publications by Harris examine the cultural and material roots of dietary traditions in many cultures, including Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture (1975); Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture (1998 - originally titled The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig) and his co-edited volume, Food and Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits (1987).
Harris’ Why Nothing Works: The Anthropology of Daily Life (1981 - Originally titled America Now: the Anthropology of a Changing Culture) applies concepts from cultural materialism to the explanation of such social developments in late twentieth century United States as inflation, the entry of large numbers of women into the paid labor force, marital instability, and shoddy products.
His Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We Came From, Where We Are Going (1990) surveys the broad sweep of human physical and cultural evolution, offering provocative explanations of such subjects as human gender and sexuality and the origins of inequality. Finally, Harris’ 1979 work, Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture, updated and re-released in 2001, offers perhaps the most comprehensive statement of cultural materialism. A separate article lists the many and diverse publications of Marvin Harris.
, have much to say about topics such as gender and the role of women in society. That field itself covers a range of perspectives, including some who agree with various points made by Harris.
, the former in 1949 and the latter in 1953. He performed fieldwork in Brazil
and Portuguese-speaking
Africa
before joining the faculty at Columbia. He eventually became chairman of the anthropology department at Columbia. During the Columbia student campus occupation of 1968, Harris was among the few faculty leaders who sided with the students when they were threatened and beaten by the police. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was a resident of Leonia
, New Jersey
.
Harris next joined the University of Florida
anthropology department in 1981 and retired in 2000, becoming the Anthropology Graduate Research Professor Emeritus. Harris also served as the Chair of the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association
.
Harris became the author of seventeen books. Two of his college textbooks, Culture, People, Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology, were published in seven editions. His research spanned the topics of race, evolution, and culture. He often focused on Latin America
and Brazil, including the Islas de la Bahia, Ecuador
, Mozambique
, India
, and East Harlem.
Writings for the general public include: Reissued in 1991 by Vintage, New York. (Previously titled America Now: The Anthropology of a Changing Culture) (Previously published 1985 by Simon & Schuster. Previously titled The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig)
More academically oriented works include Paperback ISBN 0-7591-0135-3
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
anthropologist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. A prolific writer, he was highly influential in the development of cultural materialism
Cultural materialism (anthropology)
Cultural materialism is an anthropological research orientation first introduced by Marvin Harris in his 1968 book The Rise of Anthropological Theory, as a theoretical paradigm and research strategy. Indeed it is said to be the most enduring achievement of that work. Harris subsequently developed a...
. In his work he combined Karl Marx's
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
emphasis on the forces of production with Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
's insights on the impact of demographic factors on other parts of the sociocultural system
Sociocultural system
A sociocultural system is a "human population viewed in its ecological context and as one of the many subsystems of a larger ecological system".A sociocultural system may be described as having an infrastructure, a structure, and a superstructure...
. Labeling demographic and production factors as infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
, Harris posited these factors as key in determining a society's social structure and culture. After the publication of The Rise of Anthropological Theory in 1968, Harris helped focus the interest of anthropologists in cultural-ecological relationships for the rest of his career. Many of his publications gained wide circulation among lay readers.
Over the course of his professional life, Harris drew both a loyal following and a considerable amount of criticism. He became a regular fixture at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
where he would subject scholars to intense questioning from the floor, podium, or bar. He is considered a generalist, who had an interest in the global processes that account for human origins and the evolution of human cultures.
In his final book, Theories of Culture in Postmodern Times, Harris argued that the political consequences of postmodern theory were harmful, a critique similar to those later developed by philosopher Richard Wolin
Richard Wolin
Richard Wolin is an intellectual historian.He is Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he has worked since 2000...
and others.
Early career
Being born just before the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Harris was poor during his childhood in Brooklyn. He entered the U.S. Army toward the end of the Second World War and used funding from the G.I. Bill to enter Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
along with a new generation of post-war American anthropologists. Harris was an avid reader who loved to spend hours at the race track and he eventually developed a complex mathematical betting system that was successful enough to provide support for his wife, Madelyn, and him during his years of graduate school.
Harris' early work was with his mentor, Charles Wagley
Charles Wagley
Charles Wagley was an American anthropologist and leading pioneer in the development of Brazilian anthropology. Wagley began graduate work in the 1930s at Columbia University, where he fell under the spell of Franz Boas and what later became known as the "historical particularist” mode of...
, and his dissertation research in Brazil produced an unremarkable village study that carried on the Boasian
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
descriptive tradition in anthropology—a tradition he would later denounce.
After graduation, Harris was given an assistant professorship at Columbia and, while undertaking fieldwork in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
in 1957, Harris underwent a series of profound transformations that altered his theoretical and political orientations.
Theoretical contributions
Harris' earliest work began in the Boasian tradition of descriptive anthropological fieldwork, but his fieldwork experiences in MozambiqueMozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
in the late 1950s caused him to shift his focus from ideological features of culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, toward behavioral aspects. His 1968 history of anthropological thought, The Rise of Anthropological Theory critically examined hundreds of years of social thought with the intent of constructing a viable nomothetic
Nomothetic
Nomothetic literally means "proposition of the law" and is used in philosophy , psychology, and law with differing meanings...
understanding of human culture that Harris came to call cultural materialism
Cultural materialism (anthropology)
Cultural materialism is an anthropological research orientation first introduced by Marvin Harris in his 1968 book The Rise of Anthropological Theory, as a theoretical paradigm and research strategy. Indeed it is said to be the most enduring achievement of that work. Harris subsequently developed a...
. Cultural materialism incorporated and refined Marx's categories of superstructure and base; Harris modified and amplified such core Marxist concepts as means of production and exploitation, but Harris rejected two key aspects of Marxist thought: the dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
, which Harris attributed to an intellectual vogue of Marx’s time; and, unity of theory and practice, which Harris regarded as an inappropriate and damaging stance for social scientists. Harris’ inclusion of demographic dynamics as determinant factors in sociocultural evolution
Sociocultural evolution
Sociocultural evolution is an umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and social evolution, describing how cultures and societies have changed over time...
also contrasted with Marx’s rejection of population as a causal element.
Throughout his career, Harris grappled with the issue of the epistemological status of informants' statements. He labeled his solution as the distinction between emic and etic
Emic and etic
Emic and etic are terms used by anthropologists and by others in the social and behavioral sciences to refer to two kinds of data concerning human behavior...
distinction, which he refined considerably since its exposition in The Rise of Anthropological Theory. The terms “emic” and “etic” originated in the work of linguist Kenneth Pike, despite the latter’s conceptual differences with Harris’ constructs. As used by Marvin Harris, emic meant those descriptions and explanations that are right and meaningful to an informant or subject, whereas etic descriptions and explanations are those used by the scientific community to generate and strengthen theories of sociocultural life. That is, emic is the participant's perspective, whereas etic is the observer's. Harris had asserted that both are in fact necessary for an explanation of human thought and behavior.
Marvin Harris’ early contributions to major theoretical issues include his revision of economic surplus theory in state formation. He also became well known for formulating a materialist explanation for the treatment of “Cattle in religion
Sacred cow
Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism as well as the religions of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. In some regions, especially India, the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be...
s” in Indian culture. Along with Michael Harner
Michael Harner
Michael Harner is the founder of the and the formulator of "core shamanism." Harner is known for bringing shamanism and shamanic healing to the contemporary Western world...
, Harris is one of the scholars most associated with the suggestion that Aztec cannibalism
Cannibalism in pre-Columbian America
While there is universal agreement that some Mesoamerican people practiced human sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether cannibalism in pre-Columbian America was widespread...
occurred, and was the result of protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
deficiency
Edible protein per unit area of land
Edible protein per unit area of land is a measure of agricultural productivity. This measure for various major foodstuffs is shown in the chart below. Values are expressed for one calendar year. Biological values and usable protein values have been added to the chart to show the true relative value...
in the Aztec diet. An explanation appears in Harris' book Cannibals and Kings
Cannibals and Kings
Cannibals and Kings is a book written by anthropologist Marvin Harris. The book presents a systematic discussion of ideas about the reasons for a culture making a transition by stages from egalitarian hunter-gatherer to hierarchically based states as population density increases.According to...
. Harris also invoked the human quest for animal protein to explain Yanomamo warfare, contradicting ethnographer Napoleon Chagnon
Napoleon Chagnon
Napoleon A. Chagnon is an American anthropologist and retired professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was born in Port Austin, Michigan...
’s sociobiological explanation involving innate male human aggressiveness.
Several other publications by Harris examine the cultural and material roots of dietary traditions in many cultures, including Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture (1975); Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture (1998 - originally titled The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig) and his co-edited volume, Food and Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits (1987).
Harris’ Why Nothing Works: The Anthropology of Daily Life (1981 - Originally titled America Now: the Anthropology of a Changing Culture) applies concepts from cultural materialism to the explanation of such social developments in late twentieth century United States as inflation, the entry of large numbers of women into the paid labor force, marital instability, and shoddy products.
His Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We Came From, Where We Are Going (1990) surveys the broad sweep of human physical and cultural evolution, offering provocative explanations of such subjects as human gender and sexuality and the origins of inequality. Finally, Harris’ 1979 work, Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture, updated and re-released in 2001, offers perhaps the most comprehensive statement of cultural materialism. A separate article lists the many and diverse publications of Marvin Harris.
Criticisms and controversies
While Harris' contributions to anthropology are widely respected, they do not represent the only views within that field. It has been said that "Other anthropologists and observers had almost as many opinions about Dr. Harris as he had about why people behave as they do. Smithsonian magazine called him 'one of the most controversial anthropologists alive.' The Washington Post described him as 'a storm center in his field', and the Los Angeles Times accused him of 'overgeneralized assumptions'." Other fields, such as feminist anthropologyFeminist anthropology
Feminist anthropology is an approach to studying cultural anthropology that aims to correct for a perceived androcentric bias within anthropology...
, have much to say about topics such as gender and the role of women in society. That field itself covers a range of perspectives, including some who agree with various points made by Harris.
Academic career
Harris received both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, the former in 1949 and the latter in 1953. He performed fieldwork in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Portuguese-speaking
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
before joining the faculty at Columbia. He eventually became chairman of the anthropology department at Columbia. During the Columbia student campus occupation of 1968, Harris was among the few faculty leaders who sided with the students when they were threatened and beaten by the police. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was a resident of Leonia
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Harris next joined the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
anthropology department in 1981 and retired in 2000, becoming the Anthropology Graduate Research Professor Emeritus. Harris also served as the Chair of the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
.
Harris became the author of seventeen books. Two of his college textbooks, Culture, People, Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology, were published in seven editions. His research spanned the topics of race, evolution, and culture. He often focused on Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Brazil, including the Islas de la Bahia, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and East Harlem.
Works cited
Harris left a large body of scholarly work. See List of Marvin Harris works for a complete list.Writings for the general public include: Reissued in 1991 by Vintage, New York. (Previously titled America Now: The Anthropology of a Changing Culture) (Previously published 1985 by Simon & Schuster. Previously titled The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig)
More academically oriented works include Paperback ISBN 0-7591-0135-3