Malinowski Bronislaw

Malinowski Bronislaw

(1884-1942) Polish functionalist anthropologist. Major works include Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), Crime and Custom in Savage Society (1926), Sex and Repression in Savage Society (1927), The Sexual Life of Savages (1929) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948). He is best known for stressing the importance of ETHNOGRAPHY, or detailed participant observation, in ANTHROPOLOGY. His use of a detailed ethnographic diary is notable in this regard. Working in New Guinea and the Trobriand Islands (see KULA RING) he was able to provide detailed monographs on all aspects of the culture of these peoples. Together with RADCLIFFE-BROWN he shaped UK structural-functionalist (see STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM) anthropology whilst Professor at the London School of Economics from 1927 to 1938. His focus on the functional needs of sociocultural systems is indicated in A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays (1944).