Cultural materialism

The term Cultural materialism refers to two separate scholarly endeavours:

• Cultural materialism (anthropology) — originally formulated as an anthropological research paradigm, cultural materialism was initially proposed as an approach for studying cultures and people. It was championed most notably by Marvin Harris.

• Cultural materialism (cultural studies) — a movement in literary theory and cultural studies that focuses on texts rather than peoples' lives, this type of culture materialism involves the analysis of topics such as Renaissance literature and English Renaissance theatre The main proponent of this school was Raymond Williams

In spite of the influence of Marx on both endeavors, there is no real overlap between the two forms of cultural materialism.