Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
HISTORY IS OFTEN MADE BY STRONG PERSONALITIES WIELDING
bold new political, economic,
or religious doctrines. Yet any serious effort to understand how and why societies change re-
quires examination not just of leaders and ideas, but also of environmental circumstances. The eco-
logical context (climate, weather, and the presence or absence of water, good soil, and other re-
sources) may either present or foreclose opportunities for those wanting to shake up the social
world. This suggests that if you want to change society—or are interested in aiding or evaluating the
efforts of others to do so—some understanding of exactly how environmental circumstances affect
such efforts could be extremely helpful.
Perhaps the most important key to grasping the relationship between the environment and pro-
cesses of societal change was articulated by American anthropologist Marvin Harris (1927-2001).
From the very beginning of efforts to systematically study human societies in the 18th and 19th
centuries, it had been clear that there were strong correlations between how societies obtain their
food (whether by hunting and gathering, horticulture, agriculture, animal herding, or fishing), and
their social structures and beliefs about the world. Hunter-gatherers typically live in small peripat-
etic bands, have an egalitarian social structure, and regard the natural world as full of supernatur-
al powers and personalities that can be contacted or influenced by shamans. Farmers, on the other
hand, stay in one place and produce seasonal surpluses that often end up subsidizing the formation
of towns as well as classes of full-time specialists in various activities (metalworking, statecraft,
soldiery, banking, recordkeeping, and so on); agricultural societies also tend to develop formalized
religions presided over by a full-time, hierarchical priestly class. These systemic distinctions and
similarities have held true on different continents and throughout centuries. Harris showed how
shifts from one kind of food system to another were driven by environmental opportunity and ne-
cessity, and he refined his insights into an anthropological research strategy.
1
Marvin Harris's magnum opus was the rather difficult book
Cultural Materialism: The Struggle
lic—others of his titles, such as
Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches
(1974) and
Cannibals and Kings
(1977) were best sellers—in
Cultural Materialism
, Harris was writing for fellow anthropologists.
