George Murdock

George Peter Murdock
George Murdock
Born(1897-05-11)May 11, 1897
DiedMarch 29, 1985(1985-03-29) (aged 87)
Known forcross-cultural studies; Human Relations Area Files
AwardsViking Fund Medal (1949)
Scientific career
FieldsAnthropology
Doctoral advisorAlbert Galloway Keller
Doctoral studentsWard Goodenough, John Whiting

George Peter ("Pete") Murdock (May 11, 1897 – March 29, 1985), also known as G. P. Murdock, was an American anthropologist who was professor at Yale University and University of Pittsburgh. He is remembered for his empirical approach to ethnological studies and his study of family and kinship structures across differing cultures.

His 1967 Ethnographic Atlas dataset on more than 1,200 pre-industrial societies is influential and frequently used in social science research.[1][2] He is also known for his work as an FBI informant on his fellow anthropologists during McCarthyism.

  1. ^ Bahrami-Rad; Becker, A.; Henrich, J. (2021). "Tabulated Nonsense? Testing the Validity of the Ethnographic Atlas". Economics Letters. 204: 109880. doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109880. S2CID 233489827.
  2. ^ Lowes, Sara (2021), Bisin, Alberto; Federico, Giovanni (eds.), "Chapter 6 - Ethnographic and field data in historical economics", The Handbook of Historical Economics, Academic Press, pp. 147–177, ISBN 978-0-12-815874-6