Cultural Materialism

social science

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July 16, 2026

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Cultural materialism is an approach within cultural anthropology that explains culture by focusing on material conditions, such as the environment and economy, as primary drivers of social and cultural phenomena. This perspective contrasts with idealism, which emphasizes the role of ideas and values. Cultural materialism posits that practical, material factors like infrastructure (technology and economy) and structure (social and political organization) shape the superstructure (ideology, religion, and art) of a society.1

This approach is part of the broader field of cultural anthropology, which studies human cultures in their many aspects through ethnographic research. Cultural materialism, along with other approaches like cultural ecology and historical anthropology, seeks to understand the dynamics of culture change and the symbolic meanings within cultures.21

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William Shakespeare
New interpretive approaches
…came to be known as Cultural Materialism; it was a first cousin to American New Historicism, though often with a more class-conscious and Marxist ideology. The chief proponents of this movement with regard to Shakespeare criticism are Jonathan Dollimore, Alan Sinfield, John Drakakis, and Terry Eagleton.
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…came to be known as Cultural Materialism; it was a first cousin to American New Historicism, though often with a more class-conscious and Marxist ideology. The chief proponents of this movement with regard to Shakespeare criticism are Jonathan Dollimore, Alan Sinfield, John Drakakis, and Terry Eagleton.
Read More