Marshall Sahlins
Marshall Sahlins was an influential American anthropologist known for his contributions to the field of cultural anthropology. He is renowned for his work on the structure of kinship, economic anthropology, and the role of culture in human behavior. Sahlins was a prolific writer and thinker, whose ideas have had a significant impact on the study of human societies.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. The Use And Abuse Of Biology
An Anthropological Critique of Sociobiology
This thought-provoking work critically examines the application of biological concepts to human behavior and society, challenging the reductionist view that human actions are solely determined by genetic and evolutionary factors. It argues that cultural and social influences play a significant role in shaping human behavior, and warns against the misuse of biological theories to justify social inequalities and deterministic views of human nature. Through a series of essays, the book advocates for a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between biology and culture, emphasizing the importance of cultural context in interpreting human actions.
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2. Waiting For Foucault, Still
A witty, incisive set of aphorisms and brief essays that skewers academic fashions in anthropology—especially the excesses of high theory and discourse analysis—while defending culture and human agency. Through playful satire and sharp erudition, it probes relativism, power, materialism, and method, exposing jargon and conceptual muddles, reflecting on what ethnography can and cannot know, and urging a more humane, commonsense, and historically grounded practice.
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3. Stone Age Economics
A collection of essays that rethinks economic life in small-scale societies, arguing that many foragers achieved an “original affluent” condition by limiting wants and enjoying abundant leisure. It analyzes reciprocity, gift exchange, redistribution, and the domestic mode of production, showing how kinship and social obligations organize production and circulation. Through comparative ethnography, it contrasts embedded moral economies with market capitalism and challenges Western assumptions about scarcity, value, and rationality.
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