Why do societies change? The secret lies in the bedrock of material life.

Cultures · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Marvin Harris proposed that culture is not a random collection of ideas but a system driven by material reality. By prioritizing infrastructure—how we produce and reproduce—over beliefs, this framework offers a scientific lens to explain why societies evolve, behave, and structure themselves the way they do today.

Introduced by Marvin Harris in his 1968 work The Rise of Anthropological Theory, cultural materialism provides a rigorous research strategy for understanding social change. Harris argued that a society's evolution is primarily shaped by three distinct levels: infrastructure, structure, and superstructure. While he drew inspiration from 19th-century evolutionists like Herbert Spencer and Edward Tylor, as well as 20th-century thinkers like Leslie White and Julian Steward, his approach remains distinct from Marxist dialectical materialism. Harris famously integrated Thomas Malthus’s focus on reproduction alongside production, creating a comprehensive model that treats culture as a scientific object of inquiry.

At the heart of this framework is the principle of probabilistic infrastructural determinism. This posits that a society's infrastructure—its behavioral modes of production and reproduction in relation to the environment—is almost always the most significant force driving cultural evolution. However, this is not a simplistic reduction. Harris maintained that structure, which includes domestic and political economies, and superstructure, encompassing arts, rituals, and science, are not merely passive reflections of the infrastructure. Instead, they function as vital regulatory mechanisms that help maintain the system as a whole.

The methodology relies heavily on the scientific method, incorporating concepts like Karl Popper’s falsifiability and the positivism of the Vienna Circle. A central challenge for researchers is navigating the relationship between what people think and say as subjects, and what they actually do as objects of scientific study. By distinguishing between etic (behavioral) and emic (mental) perspectives, cultural materialism seeks to map the interplay between material conditions and the symbolic, ideational relations that define human existence. Recent interest from behavioral psychologists and a new generation of anthropologists suggests that the focus on the anthropology of infrastructures remains a potent tool for modern social analysis.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• Are all human cultures built upon the same hidden, universal mental architecture?
• Why the march of human progress is really a story about energy capture
• Does the economy dictate human history, or is it a tool for understanding change?
• Did every society climb the same ladder? Anthropologists found people skipping rungs
• Did human societies follow a single, inevitable path toward modern civilization?
• Are there traits that define every human culture, or are we just guessing?
• Why a British reality cooking show became a masterclass in social friction and satire
• Why the Dogon people built their homes into the steep cliffs of Mali
• The Chumash people mastered the open ocean with sophisticated plank canoe technology
• Why do humans trade, gift, and hoard in ways that defy pure economic logic?
• Christian Atsu: The Ghanaian Winger Who Found Purpose Beyond the Football Pitch
• Why Frank Lloyd Wright built a Mayan-inspired temple on a Los Angeles hillside

More in Ethnology and anthropology · More in Cultures · Latest · A–Z · All topics