SOC285 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Marvin Harris, Practical Reason, Emic And Etic
22 Oct 2018
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Emic is cultural, the people involved understand something might have something religious or moral tied there always has to be an etic side. In particular anthropologists focus on the impact of sociology. Marvin harris developed an approach called cultural materialism. Harris is well known for his work on the jewish pork taboo and the hindu cow worship. To westerners these appear to be irrational beliefs, the whole western world eats pork and beef, it seems irrational. Harris tries to show that under the circumstances of that society that these traditions are perfectly rational. Even if they only see it as a religious reason, there"s more to it. Jewish pork taboo, harris argues there is no big difference between pigs and other animals that people have domesticated. Every other animal like a sheep or horse eats grass or leaves, things people don"t eat.
