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Anthropology
Marvin Harris on the Cultural Materialist explanation for warfare ("Primitive War" in Cows, Pigs, Wars, & Witches)
American anthropologist Marvin Harris discusses the cultural materialist perspective of anthropology in explaining the occurrence of warfare among primitive societies in "Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches." In his exploration and study of different cultures in the world such as India, Brazil, Venezuela, among others, he emphasizes the role the structure and mode of production plays in the prevalence of warfare and the dominance of males within these societies (that is, the development of a patriarchal society).
Cultural materialism stems from Karl Marx's study of the political economies of industrial societies. Marvin Harris, following this Marxian tradition, intends to explain cultures in the world as dependent on their respective histories and economies....
Cultural materialism posits that social activity is largely derived from structures within society (of which the terms "infrastructure," "structure," and "superstructure" are used to distinguish among the levels extant in a society). Structures determine the norms, ideas, and values held important by the society, which also largely determines the rituals and activities that they conduct in everyday life.
Another important aspect of cultural materialism is determining the mode of production in a society. In identifying the mode of production, it is essential to identify what is the basic economic resource of a society, who cultivates and produces these resources, and who controls the tools or materials in which these economic resources are produced. Evidently, identifying the mode of production also leads the researcher to identify who is in control or power in the society and it is usually…
War Society Modern World War has been an integral part of the development of our civilization from the earliest times. It is estimated that there are more than 14,000 wars that have occurred since events began to be recorded and this has resulted in the death of billions of people. It was an essential part of the survival and behavior of human beings and the society at large. This attitude continued
Wells uses the idea of violence as a catalyst to explain human behavior and thinking. Violence seems the perfect solution throughout "The War of the Worlds" and regardless of how they look at the problem, both the Martians and people believe that by using violence they are probable to experience victory. However, when considering that the Martians' superior technology is not enough to provide them with the opportunity to be
Lear and Comodore Barron, the commander of the American fleet in the Mediterranean agreed in 1805 that Ahmad was no longer useful to the American cause. As a result, Lear met with Muhammad D'Ghies, Tripoli's Minister for foreign affairs, and eventually reached an agreement. War prisoners would be mutually exchanged, and America had to pay a sum of $60, 000 to Tripoli. However, this sum was considerably smaller than
Sociologists do not see war as something humanity is genetically programmed to do, but the result of social forces. Why do they believe this? What is the evidence? If war is not caused by biology, what are some of the social forces that sociologists argue have contributed to it? Illustrate your points with concrete examples from the readings. According to Howard Zinn, there is no evidence that human beings are innately
All because of a racially fueled hatred that exaggerated the nature of the merciless war. This image of the cruelty and heartless Japanese is what eventually allowed the American people and government to justify the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The racist attitudes clearly clouded the United State's commitment to defending Democracy, both abroad and within its own borders. One of the worst examples of this merciless prejudice was
Sonar Research and Naval Warfare: 1914-1954 During both World War I and World War II, there were a number of informational tactics used by the Navy in order to gain ground on enemy troops. One of those was sonar research, because it provided them with knowledge they would not have otherwise had (Hackmann, 1984). Sonar is not perfect, but a great deal of work has gone into it since its creation,