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Marvin Harris: Cultural Materialism perspective
Theory: A model of human behavior. Model involving a logical explanation of some phenomenon Model tries to generalize about social behavior A theory in social sciences must be empirically testable or supported by evidence
Materialist versus Idealist views of Culture
Food as Feed (required for physical existence/survival)
Food as symbolic: as Status/prestige, Health, class, group identity, sexuality, gender, power, ritual, protest
Why don=t Hindus eat beef? Or, why don’t Jews and Muslims eat Pork?
MATERIALIST: ABecause it is more profitable to preserve the cow=s for other uses”
IDEALIST : ABecause they consider the cow sacred, and will not kill it for food”
Theories are based on Assumptions
Materialist View: Humans are rational beings. They will weigh the costs and benefits of actions. Biological needs such as food, sex are more important than other needs. Work is less desirable than leisure. Behaviors influence ideas.
Idealist View: Human seek meaning in action. Symbolic understanding orients all human action, including the satisfaction of biological needs. We cannot understand human behavior without understanding the system of meanings that govern behavior from the actor’s point of view. Ideas influence action.

Harris= materialist explanation of the Asacred cow@ in India
Beef was consumed in the past and only later prohibited in Hindu diet. Early scripturesB do not condemn beef. Population growth makes beef a more costly food. Shift from animal protein to grains. But cow still a very useful animal (plough ,transportation, fuel, milk). A living cow is more valuable than a dead one. In other words, a rational adaptation to a changing environment. Religious prohibition of cow slaughter by turning cow into a sacred animal helps prevent deviance.
"Westerners think that Indians would rather starve than eat their cows," Marvin Harris told Psychology Today. "What they don't understand is that they will starve if they do eat their cows."

Harris= explanation of the Adirty pig@ and pork taboo among Jews and Muslims
Pigs originally from woodlands and lack sweat glands (not always Adirty@). Agricultural Intensification led to arid-land in Middle East. Pigs compete with humans for food; wallow in mud to Acool off.” Useful only as food (not hide or transportation or labor) and now too costly. To prohibit pigs is to encourage grain cultivation.

Role of Ideology/Values/Norms: religious ideas about diet then are simply attempts to rationalize and legitimate an adaptive strategy. All human behavior is shaped by “material” or economic factors. Cultural values, beliefs and norms are built up to support economic structures.

FOUR VIEWS (EMIC/ETIC) OF CATTLE SLAUGHTER IN INDIA

Farmers’ EMIC VIEW of norms → AAll calves have the right to life.@

Farmer=s EMIC VIEW of deaths → “Weak cows die because they do not feed.@
ANo calves are ever starved to death.@

Observer=s ETIC inference → A Let the male calves starve to death when
(of farmers’ norms) feed is scarce.@

Observer=s ETIC inference → A Male calves are starved to death.@
(Based on statistics on calf sex ratios)

Marvin Harris’ General Model of Cultural Materialism

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