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Instructor Supplement

 
Cultural Anthropology 6/e

Marvin Harris
Orna Johnson

Published July 2002 by Allyn & Bacon
Copyright 2003, 384 pp., Paper
ISBN: 0-205-36718-6
List Price:
$80.00

Inventory Status:
In-Stock
   
Summary

KEY BENEFITS: Using a cultural materialist approach, the sixth edition of Cultural Anthropology furnishes readers with a framework for explaining how the parts of sociocultural systems are interrelated and how they change over time. KEY TOPICS: Described as accessible, engaging well illustrated and comprehensive, this book covers a wide range of Western and nonwestern cultures for analysis and comparison. "Marvin Harris can continue to bring new insights to the field of anthropology and provide ways to inspire readers new to this discipline," writes a long-time user. MARKET: For anyone interested in learning about cultural anthropology.

Features

  • Presents a clear, succinct overview of the cultural materialist empirical approach to understanding cross-cultural differences and similarities. The theme of cultural relativism and emic and etic viewpoints span the entire text and allow students to look at seemingly irrational behaviors and place them in their appropriate cultural context.
  • Draws connections between behavioral patterns of production and reproduction, the domestic and political economy, and the ideological and symbolic sectors of culture.
  • Maintains the popular “America Now” feature that debuted in the last edition to show the relevance of anthropology to the study of contemporary social issues.
  • Includes “Key Terms” and “Questions for Thought” in each chapter to help students understand the text's theoretical arguments.


Table of Contents

Each chapter includes "Summary," and Profiles and most chapters include "America Now."

1. Introduction.

The Five Fields of Anthropology.

What Is Distinctive about Cultural Anthropology?

Why Study Anthropology?



2. The Nature of Culture.

Definitions of Culture.

Society, Subculture, and Sociocultural System.

Science and the Relativity of Truth.

Fieldwork and the Mental and Behavioral Aspects of Culture.

The Universal Pattern.

The Diversity of Anthropological Theories.

Cultural Materialism.



3. The Evolution of the Capacity for Culture.

Genes and Natural Selection.

Nonhuman Culture.

The Evolution of the Hominids.

Apes and Language.

Aggressive versus Cooperative Behavior among Apes.



4. Language and Culture.

Universal Features of Language.

Structural Linguistics: Elements of Language Analysis.

Biological and Cultural Aspects of Language.

Language Issues and Theories.

Sociolinguistics.



5. Production.

Evolution of Energy Production.

The Influence of the Environment and Ecology.

Carrying Capacity and the Law of Diminishing Returns.

Hunting and Gathering.

Agriculture.

Pastoralism.

Energy and the Evolution of Culture.

Industrial Food Energy Systems.



6. Reproduction.

The Relation between Production and Reproduction.

Population Pressure versus Population Growth.

Preindustrial Reproductive Practices.

The Costs and Benefits of Rearing Children.

The Contraception, Abortion, and Infanticide Debate.

Industrial Modes of Reproduction.

Women's Status, Education, and Fertility.



7. Economic Organization.

Definition of Economy.

Exchange.

Redistributive Exchange.

Reciprocity versus Redistribution.

The Infrastructural Basis of Redistribution and Reciprocity.

Stratified Redistribution.

Price Market Exchange: Buying and Selling.

Patterns of Work.



8. Domestic Life.

The Household and the Domestic Sphere of Culture.

Family Groups and the Mode of Production and Reproduction.

What Is Marriage?

Economic Aspects of Marriage.

Preferential Marriages.

Domestic Groups and the Avoidance of Incest.



9. Descent, Locality, and Kinship.

Kinship.

Descent.

Descent Rules: Cognatic and Unilineal Descent.

Postmarital Locality Patterns.

Kinship Terminologies.

Kin Terms Are Negotiated, Not Written in Stone.



10. Law, Order, and War in Nonstate Societies.

Law and Order in Band and Village Societies.

Headmanship.

The Leopard Skin Chief.

Nonkin Associations: Sodalities.

Warfare among Hunters and Gatherers.

Warfare among Sedentary Village Societies.

Why War?

Warfare, the Politics of Prestige, and the Big Man System.



11. Origins of Chiefdoms and the State.

The Evolution of Big Man Systems into Chiefdoms.

Infrastructural and Structural Aspects of Political Control.

The Origins of States.

Ideology as a Source of Power.

The State and Physical Coercion.



12. Class and Caste.

Class and Power.

Peasant Classes.

The Image of Limited Good.

Castes in India.



13. Ethnicity, Race, and Racism.

Ethnicity.

Biological Races versus Social Races versus Ethnic Groups.

The Competitive Dynamics of Ethnic and Racial Groups.

Defining Racism.



14. Sex and Gender Hierarchies.

Sex versus Gender.

Human Sexuality.

Heterosexuality.

Restrictive versus Permissive Cultures.

Male Homosexuality.

Female Homosexuality.

Gender Ideologies.

The Relativity of Gender Ideologies.

Are Women Equally Represented in Ethnographies.

Gender Hierarchy.

Variations in Gender Hierarchies.

Causes of Variation in Gender Hierarchies.

Hoes, Plows, and Gender Hierarchies.

Gender and Exploitation.

Gender and Hyperindustrialism.



15. Psychological Anthropology.

Culture and Personality.

Cultural Constructs Personality.

Mode of Production and Socialization Practices.

Early Childhood Training.

Subsistence and Adult Personality.

Schemas and Cognition.

Culture and Mental Illness.



16. Religion.

Animism.

Animatism and Mana.

Natural and Supernatural.

Magic and Religion.

The Organization of Religious Beliefs and Practices.

Religion and Political Economy: High Gods.

Revitalization Movements.

Religion and Social Action.



17. Art.

What Is Art?

Art as a Cultural Category.

The Evolution of Music and Dance.

Verbal Arts.



18. Applied Anthropology.

What Is Applied Anthropology?

Research, Theory, and Action.

What Do Applied Anthropologists Have to Offer?

Applied Anthropology and Development.

Medical Anthropology.

Demographics: The U.S. Census Undercount.

Forensics.

Business and Anthropology.

Poverty and Health.

Anthropological Advocacy.



19. Globalization.

What is globalization?

Socio-cultural Evolution and Development

The Green Revolution

Free Market vs. Anti-Market Forces

The Effect of Globalization on Indigenous People

Resistance to Oppression

Preserving Indigenous Cultures

Vanishing Knowledge



Glossary.


Index.



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