Raymond Firth

Raymond Firth
Firth c. 1965
Born(1901-03-25)25 March 1901
Auckland, New Zealand
Died22 February 2002(2002-02-22) (aged 100)
London, England
Alma materAuckland University College (BA, MA, Dipl)
London School of Economics (PhD)
Spouse
(m. 1936; died 2001)
Scientific career
FieldsEthnology
ThesisEconomic organisation of Polynesian societies: wealth and work of the Maori (1927)
Academic advisorsBronisław Malinowski
Doctoral studentsEdmund Leach
Kenneth Little
Joan Metge

Sir Raymond William Firth CNZM FRAI FBA (25 March 1901 – 22 February 2002) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behaviour within the particular society (social structure). He was a long serving professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics, and is considered to have singlehandedly created a form of British economic anthropology.[1]

  1. ^ Bloch, Maurice (26 February 2002). "Obituary: Sir Raymond Firth". The Guardian (UK). London. Retrieved 29 November 2006.