Marvin Harris
Developed cultural materialism, arguing that material conditions and economic factors are primary determinants of sociocultural organization.
Quotes by Marvin Harris
Potlatch feasts among Northwest Coast Indians were not waste but investments in social capital.
Our species' success lies in our ability to culturally adapt faster than biology allows.
Why sushi? Raw fish preserves nutrients in a society where cooking fuel is limited.
Boas and his students romanticized culture, but materialism shows it's grounded in sweat and soil.
The biblical manna was likely a cultural memory of gathering wild grains in scarcity.
In overpopulated worlds, taboos become tools for rationing.
Anthropology without materialism is like history without economics—charming but incomplete.
The rise of states correlates with intensified agriculture and surplus production.
We are what we eat, but more importantly, we eat what we can sustainably produce.
Diffusionism fails because it ignores the selective pressures of local environments.
Witchcraft accusations in Africa serve to regulate social tensions over resources.
Human nature is plastic, molded by the necessities of the mode of production.
The kosher laws optimized nutrition in a nomadic, desert-dwelling society.
In the laboratory of history, cultures are experiments in adaptation.
Why no beef in India? Because cows are walking dairies in a vegetarian economy.
Anthropological theory must be testable, falsifiable, and rooted in observable behaviors.
The cargo cults of Melanesia were rational responses to colonial exploitation.
Life's meaning? Survival through clever cultural inventions.
Humor in anthropology: realizing that our 'advanced' society has its own bizarre taboos.
On my deathbed, if I have one, I'll say: 'I tried to explain why we do what we do.'