Marvin Harris (August 18, 1927 – October 25, 2001) was an American
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
. He was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. A prolific writer, he was highly influential in the development of
cultural materialism and
environmental determinism. In his work, he combined
Karl Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
's emphasis on the forces of production with
Thomas Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography.
In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
's insights on the impact of demographic factors on other parts of the
sociocultural system.
Labeling demographic and production factors as
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...
, Harris posited these factors as key in determining a society's social structure and
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
. 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
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropo ...
, 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 (; born 1952) is an American intellectual historian who writes on 20th century European philosophy, particularly German philosopher Martin Heidegger and the group of thinkers known collectively as the Frankfurt School.
Life
Wolin ...
and others.
Early career
Being born just before the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, Harris was poor during his childhood in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. He entered the U.S. Army toward the end of the Second World War and used funding from the
G.I. Bill
The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
to enter
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
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
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...
in Mozambique 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 Mozambique in the late 1950s caused him to shift his focus from ideological features of culture toward behavioral aspects. His 1969 history of anthropological thought, ''The Rise of Anthropological Theory'' critically examined hundreds of years of social thought with the intent of constructing a viable understanding of human culture that Harris came to call Cultural Materialism.
The book, affectionately known as "The RAT" among graduate students, is a synthesis of classical and contemporary macrosocial theory.
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 (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
, 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 also integrated Malthus' population theory into his research strategy as a major determinant factor in
sociocultural evolution
Sociocultural evolution, sociocultural evolutionism or social evolution are theories of sociobiology and cultural evolution that describe how Society, societies and culture change over time. Whereas sociocultural development traces processes t ...
, which also contrasted with Marx's rejection of population as a causal element.
According to Harris, the principal mechanisms by which a society exploits its environment are contained in a society's infrastructure—the mode of production (technology and work patterns) and population (such as population characteristics, fertility and mortality rates). Since such practices are essential for the continuation of life itself, widespread social structures and cultural values and beliefs must be consistent with these practices. Since the aim of science, Harris writes:
is the discovery of the maximum amount of order in its field of inquiry, priority for theory building logically settles upon those sectors under the greatest direct restraints from the givens of nature. To endow the mental superstructure deas and ideologieswith strategic priority, as the cultural idealists advocate, is a bad bet. Nature is indifferent to whether God is a loving father or a bloodthirsty cannibal. But nature is not indifferent to whether the fallow period in a swidden lash and burnfield is one year or ten. We know that powerful restraints exist on the infrastructural level; hence it is a good bet that these restraints are passed on to the structural and superstructural components. (Harris 1979, 57)
Harris made a critical distinction between
emic and etic
In anthropology, folkloristics, linguistics, and the social and behavioral sciences, ''emic'' () and ''etic'' () refer to two kinds of field research done and viewpoints obtained.
The ''emic'' approach is an insider's perspective, which loo ...
, which he refined considerably since its exposition in ''The Rise of Anthropological Theory''. The terms "emic" and "etic" originated in the work of missionary-
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
Kenneth Pike,
despite the latter's conceptual differences with Harris' constructs. As used by 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 germinate and force 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.
Harris' early contributions to major theoretical issues include his revision of biological surplus theory in obesity formation. He also became well known for formulating a materialist explanation for the treatment of
cattle in religion in
Indian culture
Indian culture is the heritage of social norms and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse nation of India, pertaining to the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and the Republic of India post-1947. ...
.
Along with
Michael Harner
Michael James Harner (April 27, 1929 – February 3, 2018) was an American anthropologist, educator and author. His 1980 book, ''The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing,'' has been foundational in the development and popularization o ...
, Harris is one of the scholars most associated with the suggestion that
Aztec cannibalism was widespread and resulted from
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
deficiency in their diet.
[Harris, M. (1988). pp. 468–469] 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
In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...
, the entry of large numbers of
women into the paid labor force, marital stability, and shoddy products.
His ''Our Kind: Who We Are, Where We're From, Where We Are'' (1990) surveys the broad sweep of human physical and cultural evolution, offering provocative explanations of such subjects as human transsexualism and nontranssexualism 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 wide, 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." The ''
Smithsonian'' magazine allegedly called him "one of the most controversial anthropologists alive." ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' described him as "a storm center in his field", and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' accused him of "overgeneralized assumptions".
Harris could be an acerbic critic of other theories and frequently received return fire.
Academic career
Harris received both his MA and PhD degrees from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, 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 in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
.
Harris next joined the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
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
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropo ...
.
Harris was 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 is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
and Brazil,
[ at University of Florida; accessed 2006.] but also focused on the
Islas de la Bahia, Ecuador, Mozambique, and India.
Bibliography
Writings by Harris meant for the general public include:
* Reissued in 1991 by Vintage, New York.
*
* (Previously published in 1981 as ''America Now: The Anthropology of a Changing Culture'')
*
* (Originally published in 1985 by Simon and Schuster; reprinted in 1987 by Simon & Schuster as ''The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig'')
More academically oriented works include:
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Marvin Harris's Cultural Materialism*
* The African Activist Archive Project website includes the pamphle
PORTUGAL'S AFRICAN "WARDS" - A First Hand Report on Labor and Education in Moҫambiqueby Marvin Harris, Second Printing July 1960, published by the American Committee on Africa.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Marvin
1927 births
2001 deaths
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Columbia University faculty
University of Florida faculty
20th-century American writers
20th-century American anthropologists
United States Army personnel of World War II
Erasmus Hall High School alumni
Writers from Leonia, New Jersey