“I hold it perniciously false to teach that all cultural forms are equally probable and that by mere force of will an inspired individual can at any moment alter the trajectory of an entire cultural system in a direction convenient… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
“Many humanists and artists recoil from the proposition that cultural evolution has hitherto been shaped by unconscious impersonal forces. The determined nature of the past fills them with apprehension as to the possibility of an equally determined future. But their… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
There are very important and practical issues raised by following this alternative route which says, let's look to material conditions, to the systems of… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
I think that by following the route that I have tried to outline, one gets into a much more interesting and productive series of… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
Ethnography literally means 'a portrait of a people.' An ethnography is a written description of a particular culture - the customs, beliefs, and behavior… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
When a woman gives birth to a child, the child needs to be able to digest the mother's milk; but when this child is… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
Unfortunately, the food industry has not yet faced this situation and begun taking measures to avoid exploiting our weakness for not knowing when we… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
“The availability of domesticated animal species played an important role in the prohibition of cannibalism and the development of religions of love and mercy… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
The commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' does not say it's O.K. to kill some people and not others. — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
Pigs prefer to wallow in clean mud, but if nothing else is available, they will frequently wallow in their own urine, giving rise to… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
The general proposition is that the resources that will be utilized are the ones that contribute most to the overall efficiency of the production… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
But with the Industrial Revolution and introduction of various industrial techniques for purifying sugar, we have a situation in which what we are consuming… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
In many ways the rise of the state was the descent of the world from freedom to slavery — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
Here you do have forests, where pigs could be raised by letting them root about in the forests for a good part of the… — Marvin Harris Copy Share Image
