Why did george murdock examine hundreds of different cultures in the 1940s?

George Murdock examined hundreds of different cultures in an attempt to determine what general traits are common to all cultures.

Murdock was a famous anthropologist who was interested in pre-industrial societies; in other words, he focused on cultures that existed before the world changed as a result of factories, cars and other forms of modern technology.

Murdock carried out a very comprehensive study in which he examined over 200 pre-industrial societies from all over the world. He found that they had many aspects in common, including typical gender roles for men and women.

George Murdock examined hundreds of different cultures to determine the general traits that are common to all cultures. This examination happened in the 1940s.

EXPLANATION

George Murdock did research in the 1940s. In 1954, Murdock eventually published a list that included every known culture. The list is known as the Outline of World Cultures. He then also published the first cross-cultural data set, that is titled World Ethnographic Sample. In the data, 565 cultures were coded into 30 variables.  

He then began his journey to do researches in Africa. Even though he had no experience in Africa, he still eventually published a book titled “Africa: Its peoples and their culture history”. The book is very useful for a reference to learn more about African ethnic groups. It also broke new ground about the analysis of prehistory and domestication of plants.

Murdock had a lot of major works in his life, such as Correlations of Matrilineal and Patrilineal Institutions, Studies in the Science of Society, Social Structure, Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary, Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, and Atlas of World Cultures.

George Peter Murdock was born on May 11, 1897. He was an American anthropologist and an infamous researcher. He was most known for his works, especially empirical approach about the ethnological studies, his study regarding family, and kinship structures of different cultures in the world.

LEARN MORE

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KEYWORD: George Murdock, cultures, study

Subject: History

Class: 10-12

Subchapter: George Murdock