Final answer:
The anthropological School of Thought that attributes cultural development to environmental resources and effective adaptation is called cultural ecology, as proposed by Julian Steward, with Marvin Harris's cultural materialism further shaping this perspective.
Step-by-step explanation:
The anthropological School of Thought that believes a culture arises largely as a consequence of its environmental resources is known as cultural ecology. This perspective was pioneered by American anthropologist Julian Steward in the 1950s. Steward posited that humans develop a set of core cultural features in response to the environment, focusing on adaptations that enable them to utilize resources effectively for survival, such as food, clothing, and shelter.
Building on these ideas, anthropologist Marvin Harris proposed cultural materialism, which contends that material, technological, and economic factors are the primary drivers shaping culture, influencing other aspects like family life, religion, and politics. Both of these approaches examine how environmental factors and resource utilization dictate cultural development, standing in contrast to previous evolutionary models that postulated a unilineal progression of cultures.