Bronislaw Malinowski is a British anthropologist who was
born in Poland and is considered one of the leading anthropologist from the
20th century. Malinowski was born in 1884 in Poland to an upper class family.
In 1910 Malinowski moved to England to study at the London School of Economics
and after researching on the islands of Mailu and Trobriand, he received his
doctorate of anthropology and began teaching at the London School of Economics.
During World War II Malinowski got
trapped in the United States. While there he accepted a position at Yale
university where he stayed until his death in 1942, which occurred while doing
field work in Mexico.
Malinowski
primary studied the social class and is credited with being the highest skilled
ethnographers. As an anthropologist, Malinowski promoted and coined the idea participant
observation which emphasized that the researcher must be in constant contract
with the subject to fully understand the culture. In Malinowski's study of the Kula ring,
Malinowski's findings were critical to the development the theory of
reciprocity. Additionally, Malinowski originated the idea of functionalism
which opposed structural functionalism in the idea that culture functions to
fulfill the needs of the individual rather than society as a whole.
Malinowski's logic was that if the needs and requirements of the individuals
were met than the needs of society would also be met because society is comprised of individuals.
As an anthropologist, Malinowski
challenged the Oedipus Complex on the
basis that not all psychological complexes are collective. While studying the culture of the Trobriand
men, Malinowski noted that these men do not function on the "principle of
the least effort" and that value can be measured in the amount of energy
that can be poured into a non-material resource such as a garden. Overall,
Malinowski's work was critical to the field of social anthropology and his
developments have shaped the direction of anthropology.
Sources:
http://www.nndb.com/people/320/000099023/
http://www.biography.com/people/bronislaw-malinowski-9396361
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