The Comparison Between Culture Idealists and Culture Materialists - Essay Example

Culture Idealist and Culture Materialists CULTURE IDEALIST AND CULTURE MATERIALISTS Human culture is best understood from the opposing concepts of cultural idealists and cultural materialists. In essence, idealism entails perceiving concepts from a subjective point of view while materialism entails understanding concepts from an objective point of view. In addition, idealists understand the world through absolute and fundamental ideas; on the other hand, materialists understand the world through science and experiments. When it comes down to sociology and anthropology, culture materialism is explained by surveying the material world in terms of geography, climate and humans. While in cultural idealism, a lot of focus is directed towards human ideas in the process of understanding culture. Cultural idealists and cultural materialists explain human phenomenon differently. In particular, an idealist will have a different explanation from a materialist on what motivates a human being. Culture materialism is an improvement of the Marxist theory of materialism. This paper is a discussion from the different perspectives of cultural idealists and cultural materialists what kind of culture is important, valuable and worthy of our attention and why. Culture Idealists Culture idealists base mind, spirit and ideas as the cornerstones of understanding human culture. Some philosophers who were associated with the formulation of cultural idealism are the Greek philosopher Plato, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Immanuel Kant. Idealists continue to use intangible ideas such as; beliefs, conceptions and values in emphasizing the aspect of culture. In idealism, divine and supernatural forces exist, and these are perceived by mind and spirit. Cultural idealists express that human action, and in this case, culture is derived from ideas. In the mind of a cultural idealist, religious beliefs and moral values are the greatest drivers of human action, which later transforms into cultural practices (Haviland et al, 2010: p 67). In the opinion of cultural idealists, culture primarily originates from the mind and material substances have no basis. Idealists are religious in nature and believe that God, ethics and moral have roles to play in human culture. Human culture is understood better by analyzing what people think, speak, imagine, feel in relation to the immediate environment that they live. A lot of focus, in an idealist perspective, is primarily centered on superstructure that is ideas and value (Haviland et al, 2010: p 68). Cultural idealist perspective is further exampled in; postmodernism, structuralism, psychological anthropology and cognitive anthropology, ethno-science and interpretive anthropology. Cultural idealists carry on their views through categorizing human beings as conceptualizing and symbolizing creature (Haviland et al, 2010: p 68). Contrary to cultural materialists who search for laws, cultural idealists search for meaning. Human acts originate from symbolic representations, and thus, culture is a conceptual construct. Culture Materialists Culture materialism came into existence through the work of Marvin Harris in the year 1968. Aristotle had earlier expressed sentiments of materialism since he considered idealism to be a ridiculous idea. Other main advocators of cultural materialism are; Julian Steward, Leslie White, Brian Ferguson, Maxine Margolis, Allen Johnson and Martin Murphy. However, this concept was further propelled by Marxist’s cultural model that is of three levels namely; infrastructure, structure and superstructure. In other words, population, resources, basic and biological needs, government, religion, tradition, science and social institutions, explains cultural materialism. Materialists continue to use observable actions such as; artifacts and behavior in emphasizing the aspect of culture. In materialism, only natural things that can be seen exist. Actually, the basic tenet of materialism is science. Cultural materialists ascertain the fact that material forces tend to instigate human action. Practical issues that occur around the world and that either affect human life positively or negatively are drivers of human social life. Essentially, practical issues (materials) influence culture, and this is contrary to idealists thinking that ideas, religious beliefs and moral values are drivers of human social life (OLoughlin, 2010: p 98). Cultural materialism is scientific in nature, and this is because of its deep use of behavioral and material processes in elucidating human social, traditional and cultural practices. Cultural materialism is further understood by elucidating the contact that human beings have with their immediate environment. This evident contact between human population and the environment is primary influences of culture. For instance, the need of food that human population may have will make them produce food through cultivating land. Therefore, this will bring about the culture of cultivation among human beings. Any limitation that the human population may experience will motivate them to interact with their environment with the objective of seeing that they satisfy their need. The above action goes a long way in explaining different social, traditional and cultural system that are in existence (Williams, 2005: p 87). Additionally, the three levels of cultural model help in the understanding of cultural materialism. Firstly, infrastructure, takes the form of production of food and energy, and reproduction of human population; this is through either increasing or reducing the population. Secondly, structure, takes the form of domestic and political economy. The domestic economy is based on a small group of related people who interact together in terms of basic production, reproduction, socialization and practice domestic administration. On the other hand, political economy is based on large groups of people without relations who interact together in terms of basic production, reproduction, socialization and practice social administration. Thirdly, superstructure, is of the forms of behavior and mental. Behavior superstructure entails practices such as; dance, music, art, rituals, games and sports. Mental superstructure entails issues of; values, emotions and traditions (Harris, 2001; p 203). The important culture; Cultural materialists Taking into consideration the two perspectives; cultural idealists and cultural materialists it is evident that the former is more important than the later. This is because cultural materialism is practical and its arguments are based on science and things that can be proved empirically. It is also important since it is further understood through cultural ecology and cultural evolution. Individuals can perfectly comprehend the origins of cultural similarities and differences. Moreover, the perfect comprehension, also involve intertwining the three cultural models; infrastructure, structure and superstructure. All the concepts that have been included in cultural materialism have logic and are evident. Cultural materialism explains how production and reproduction determine the way a culture is shaped eventually. Cultural development comes as a result of production and reproduction forces. Through cultural materialism, it is important to note that non-infrastructure aspects come into existence with the objective of promoting infrastructure. For instance, the existence of; religion, laws and governments is with the objective of supporting the existence of production and reproduction. The above sentiment explains the disparities and variations within different cultures. Additionally, the difference and variations, which may be witnessed between cultures, arises from environmental, technological and demographic changes within the environment (Koons & Bealer, 2010: p 102). Value and worth; Cultural materialists Firstly, the value and worth of cultural materialism arises from the aspect that materialism focuses on science. On the other hand, cultural idealism is deprived off value and worth because it is based on mere ideas and falls short of becoming holistic. Furthermore, in cultural idealism, the essence of a culture only exists in individuals’ minds. In this circumstance, science takes a material reality through cultivating the culture from technology, demographics and the economy. Secondly, the value and worth of cultural materialism is based on the three levels of cultural model; infrastructure, structure and superstructure. A society is shaped by technology and the economy, which on a different level are influenced by the three cultural models. Factors such as; technology, economy and demography, which are scientific in nature, bring about society’s structure and superstructure; the quintessential of cultural materialism. Thirdly, the value and worth of cultural materialism is centered on production and reproduction. This explains the contact that human population has with the environment. On one hand, production is linked with the economy while, on the other hand, reproduction is linked with demographics. Fourthly, cultural materialism recognizes inequalities that may arise in a society, and thereafter, state that this inequality is addressed by changes and innovations, which take place in society. Its value and worth goes further in explaining the innovations that occur due to cultural change. Fifthly, culture materialism’s value and worth are embedded in analyzing measurable phenomena and observing a culture with the aim of presenting a society’s true perspective. This is through looking at legitimate and feasible scientific explanations of human behavior (Harris, 2001; p 173). Why Cultural materialists Cultural materialism is more practical and evidence based compared to cultural idealism. In most occasions, a concept or idea that has been expressed through scientific method has proved to be; accurate, meaningful and conclusive compared to a concept that is merely perceived with the mind. In this case, cultural idealists base their explanation of culture on ideas, feelings, thoughts and sentiments that are only in the mind. Cultural materialists overrun cultural idealists because the former is observable and measurable while the latter is based on intuition, which is difficult to measure or observe. The fact that cultural materialists explain cultural phenomenon through the three cultural models, accuracy of events becomes certain. Conclusion Although, the perspective of cultural materialists and cultural idealist are different, they complement each other in areas that either have pitfalls. In addition, some philosophers have expressed that the two perspectives are interlinked. However, when it comes to answering the question, as to which perspective is important, valuable and worthy of our attention, then the perspective of cultural materialists will be appropriate. Its importance is associated with cultural materialism’s scientific nature of analyzing culture that is the relationship between infrastructure, structure and superstructure in the environment. Reference list Harris, M., 2001.Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. New York: Rowman Altamira. Haviland, W., Prins, H., McBride, B. & Walrath, D., 2010.Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge. Sydney: Cengage Learning. Koons, R. & Bealer, G., 2010.The Waning of Materialism. London: Oxford University Press. OLoughlin, J., 2010.From Materialism to Idealism. New York: John OLoughlin. Peoples, J. & Bailey, G., 2009.Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. sydney: Cengage Learning. Williams, R., 2005. Culture And Materialism: Selected Essays. New York: Verso. Read More