Marvin Harris' cultural materialism : problematization of fundamental concepts

Rad se bavi antropološkom teorijom kulturnog materijalizma u radu Marvina Harrisa koji je ujedno i idejni začetnik teorije. Kulturni materijalizam je antropološka teorija ili pravac koji nalaže da je ljudska kultura uvjetovana promjenama u okolišu, odnosno materijalnom okruženju u kojem ljudi žive. Marvin Harris osmislio je kulturni materijalizam kao pravac koji se temelji na historijskom materijalizmu, empirijskoj metodologiji i proučavanju bihevioralnih procesa. Kulturni materijalizam nalaže da se kultura sastoji od tri razine: infrastrukture, strukture i superstrukture. Infrastruktura koja je sačinjena od tzv. materijalnih stvarnosti utječe i oblikuje preostale dvije razine. Harrisov rad naišao je na kritike suvremenika koji su mu zamjerali generalizaciju i pogreške u uspostavi kauzalnosti. Unatoč nedovoljno razrađenoj teoriji u praksi, kulturni materijalizam smatra se relevantnim pristupom u polju antropologije i može se koristiti u svrhu istraživanja. Rad analizira temeljne koncepte kulturnog materijalizma te primjere istraživanja Marvina Harrisa uz kritičke osvrte Harrisovih suvremenika.The paper focuses on the anthropological theory of cultural materialism in the work of Marvin Harris, who is also the founder of the theory. Cultural materialism is an anthropological theory or direction that proposes human culture is conditioned by changes in the environment, that is, the material environment in which people live. Marvin Harris designed cultural materialism as a theory based on historical materialism, empirical methodology and the study of behavioral processes. Cultural materialism dictates that culture consists of three levels: infrastructure, structure, and superstructure. The infrastructure, which is made up of the so-called of material reality influences and shapes the remaining two levels. Harris's work was criticized by his contemporaries who blamed him for generalization and errors in establishing causality. Despite the insufficiently developed theory in practice, cultural materialism is considered a relevant approach in the field of anthropology and can be used for research purposes. The paper analyzes the fundamental concepts of cultural materialism and examples of Marvin Harris's research with critical reviews of Harris' contemporaries