Marshall Sahlins

Born in 1930
Anthropology
  • Marshall David Sahlins was a prominent American cultural anthropologist known for his ethnographic work in the Pacific and contributions to anthropological theory.

  • As Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, Sahlins challenged conventional Western anthropological perspectives.

  • His work often critiqued Western assumptions about human nature and culture, emphasizing the diversity of human societies and the importance of cultural context in understanding human behavior.

  • Sahlins was influential in developing ideas about cultural relativism and the relationship between culture and economics.

  • His writings, including "Stone Age Economics" and "Islands of History," have had a significant impact on anthropological thought and continue to be widely studied and debated.

Books by Marshall Sahlins