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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.
The best known, most often cited history of anthropological theory
is finally available in paperback! First published in 1968,
Harris's book has been cited in over 1,000 works and is one of the
key documents explaining cultural materialism, the theory
associated with Harris's work. This updated edition included the
complete 1968 text plus a new introduction by Maxine Margolis,
which discusses the impact of the book and highlights some of the
major trends in anthropological theory since its original
publication. RAT, as it is affectionately known to three decades of
graduate students, comprehensively traces the history of
anthropology and anthropological theory, culminating in a strong
argument for the use of a scientific, behaviorally-based, etic
approach to the understanding of human culture known as cultural
materialism. Despite its popularity and influence on
anthropological thinking, RAT has never been available in
paperback_until now. It is an essential volume for the library of
all anthropologists, their graduate students, and other theorists
in the social sciences.
This book is about cults, crime, and shoddy goods, and the
shrinking dollar. It's about porno parlors, and sex shops, and men
kissing in the streets. It's about daughters shaking up, women on
the rampage, marriages postponed, divorces on the rise, and no one
having kids. It's about old ladies getting mugged and raped, people
shoved in front of trains, and shoot-outs at gas pumps. And letters
that take weeks to get delivered, waiters who throw food at you,
rude sales help, and computers that bill you for things you never
bought. It's about broken benches, waterless fountains, cracked
windows, dirty toilets, crater-filled roads, graffiti-covered
buildings, slashed paintings, toppled statues, stolen books. It's
about shoelaces that break in a week, bulbs that keep burning out,
pens that won't write, cars that rust, stamps that don't stick,
stitches that don't hold, buttons that pop off, zippers that jam,
planes that lose their engines, reactors that leak, dams that
burst, roofs that collapse... It's about astrologers, shamans,
exorcists, witches, and angels in space suits... It's about a lot
of other things that are new and strange in America today. -from
the Introduction
This book challenges those who argue that we can change the world by changing the way people think. Harris shows that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from concrete social and economic conditions.
Writing with the same wit, humor, and style of his earlier bestsellers, noted anthropologist Marvin Harris traces our roots and views our destiny.
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