Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1884-1942, English anthropologist, b. Poland, Ph.D. Univ. of Kraków, 1908. Working in the field of cultural anthropology, he gained renown through his studies (1914-18) of the indigenous peoples of the Trobriand Islands off New Guinea. He began teaching at the Univ. of London in 1924, becoming a professor in 1927. Malinowski traveled and did research in Africa, Latin America, and the United States. His research techniques and insistence on the study of different cultures in terms of their particular internal dynamics caused him to be regarded as the founder of "functionalism" in social anthropology. In 1939, Malinowski became a visiting professor at Yale. Among his writings are Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), Crime and Custom in Savage Society (1926, 4th ed. 1947), and The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia (1929, 3d ed. 1948). Posthumous works include the volumes of essays The Dynamics of Culture Change (1945; ed. by P. M. Kaberry) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948; introd. by Robert Redfield).

(born April 7, 1884, Kraków, Pol., Austria-Hungary—died May 16, 1942, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) Polish-British anthropologist. He is principally associated with studies of the peoples of Oceania and with the school of thought known as functionalism. After taking degrees in philosophy, physics, and mathematics in Poland, Malinowski happened upon James George Frazer's The Golden Bough and went to study anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (1910–16). Doing research in the Trobriand Islands, he lived in a tent among the people (see Trobriander), spoke the vernacular fluently, recorded “texts” freely on the scene as well as in set interviews, and observed reactions with an acute clinical eye. He was thus able to present a dynamic picture of social institutions that clearly separated ideal norms from actual behaviour and in doing so laid much of the basis for modern anthropological field research. He taught at the London School of Economics (1922–38) and Yale University (1938–42). He wrote several works that are now considered classics of anthropology, including Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948).

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(born April 7, 1884, Kraków, Pol., Austria-Hungary—died May 16, 1942, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) Polish-British anthropologist. He is principally associated with studies of the peoples of Oceania and with the school of thought known as functionalism. After taking degrees in philosophy, physics, and mathematics in Poland, Malinowski happened upon James George Frazer's The Golden Bough and went to study anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (1910–16). Doing research in the Trobriand Islands, he lived in a tent among the people (see Trobriander), spoke the vernacular fluently, recorded “texts” freely on the scene as well as in set interviews, and observed reactions with an acute clinical eye. He was thus able to present a dynamic picture of social institutions that clearly separated ideal norms from actual behaviour and in doing so laid much of the basis for modern anthropological field research. He taught at the London School of Economics (1922–38) and Yale University (1938–42). He wrote several works that are now considered classics of anthropology, including Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948).

Learn more about Malinowski, Bronisław (Kasper) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

See Bronisław Malinowski