George Murdock

As a young boy, George Peter Murdock spent much of his time on the family farm. He was studying traditional farming methods and learning about what he later realised were the first steps in the field of geography. His interest in the field led him to work in ethnography, anthropology and sociology as an adult.

Murdock became most famous for his work on the family and kinship within different societies. He represented the functionalist perspective in his work and introduced a new, empirical approach to anthropological studies.

You are likely to come across Murdock in your sociological studies if you haven't already. This explanation contains a summary of some of his well-known works and theories.

• We will look at Murdock's life and academic career.
• Then we will discuss Murdock’s contribution to sociology, anthropology and ethnography.
• We will look at Murdock’s cultural universals, his gender theory and his views on the family.
• Finally, we will consider some criticism of Murdock’s ideas.

George Murdock's early life

George Peter Murdock was born in 1897 in Meriden, Connecticut as the eldest of three children. His family worked as farmers for five generations and as a result, Murdock spent plenty of hours working on the family farm as a child. He became acquainted with traditional, non-mechanised farming methods.

He was raised by democratic, individualistic and agnostic parents, who believed that education and knowledge would be most beneficial for their children. Murdock attended the prestigious Phillips Academy and later Yale University, where he graduated with a BA in American History.

G.P. Murdock studied at Yale University

Murdock started Harvard Law School, but shortly after quit and travelled around the world. His interest in material culture and the travelling experience influenced him to go back to Yale and study anthropology and sociology. He received his PhD from Yale in 1925. Following this, he taught at the university until 1960.

Between 1960 and 1973, Murdoch was the Andrew Mellon Professor of social anthropology at the University of Pittsburg. He retired in 1973 when he was 75 years old. In his personal life, Murdock married and had a son.

George Murdock's contribution to sociology

Murdock is most well-known for his distinctive, empirical approach to anthropology and for his research on family structures in different cultures all over the world.

Even as a young boy, he was very interested in geography. Later, he turned to ethnography.

From very early on, Murdock was an advocate for a systematic, comparative and cross-cultural approach to studying cultures and societies. He used data from different societies and looked at human behaviour in general across all his subjects. This was a revolutionary approach.

Before Murdock, anthropologists usually focused on one society or culture and made conclusions about social evolution based on the data from that society.

Our Primitive Contemporaries (1934)

One of Murdock’s most important works was Our Primitive Contemporaries, which was published in 1934. In this book, he listed 18 different societies that represented different cultures in the world. The book was meant for use in the classroom. He hoped that thanks to his work, students would be better able to evaluate generalised statements about societies.

Outline of World Cultures (1954)

In Murdock's 1954 publication Outline of World Cultures, the anthropologist listed every known culture from across the world. This quickly became a staple publication for all ethnographers, who turned to it whenever they needed to look up the characteristics of one particular society/culture.

In the mid-1930s, Murdock and his colleagues at Yale set up the Cross-Cultural Survey at the Institute for Human Relations. All scientists working at the institution adapted Murdock’s methods of organised data collection. The Cross-Cultural Survey project later developed into the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), which aimed to create an accessible archive of all human societies.

George Murdock: cultural universals

By researching many societies and cultures, Murdock discovered that besides their clear differences, they all share common practices and beliefs. He called these cultural universals and created a list of them.

On Murdock’s list of cultural universals, we can find:

• Athletic sports

• Cooking

• Funeral ceremonies

• Medicine

• Sexual restrictions

Cooking is a cultural universal, according to George Murdock.

Murdock did not state that these cultural universals are the same in every society; rather, he claimed that each society has its own way of cooking, celebrating, mourning the dead, procreating and so on.

George Murdock's gender theory

Murdock was a functionalist thinker.

Murdock represented the functionalist perspective on gender and family in particular.

According to Murdock, gender roles were socially constructed and functional. Murdock and other functionalists argued that both men and women have specific roles in society based on their natural abilities, which they must fulfil for society to survive long-term. Men, who are physically stronger, must be the breadwinners for families while women, who are naturally more nurturing, must take care of the home and the children.

George Murdock's definition of family

Murdock conducted a survey of 250 societies and concluded that the nuclear family form exists in all known cultures and societies (1949). It is universal and no alternative to it has proven to perform the four crucial functions that he identified as the sexual function, the reproductive function, the educational function and the economic function.

According to Murdock, the nuclear family form exists in all societies.

Let's examine the four key functions of the nuclear family in turn.

The sexual function of the nuclear family

Murdock argued that sexual activity needs to be regulated in a well–functioning society. Within a nuclear family, husbands and wives have sexual relationships that are approved by society. This not only regulates the individuals' own personal sexual activity but also creates a deeper connection between them and maintains their relationship.

The reproductive function of the nuclear family

Society must reproduce if it wants to survive. One of the most important functions of the nuclear family is bearing and rearing children, as well as teaching them to become useful members of society once they grow up.

The economic function of the nuclear family

The nuclear family ensures that everyone in society is provided with the necessities of life. Functionalists argue that the nuclear family divides up work between the partners according to their sex, to make sure everyone is doing what suits them the most.

According to this theory (as mentioned above), women – who are considered naturally “nurturing” and “more emotional”– care for the children and for the home, while men – who are physically and mentally “stronger” – take up the role of breadwinner.

The educational function of the nuclear family

Families are responsible for teaching their children about the culture, beliefs, and values of the society they exist in, thus socialising them to become useful members of society later on.

Criticisms of Murdock

• Since the 1950s, Murdock’s ideas on the nuclear family have been criticised by many sociologists as being outdated and unrealistic.
• Feminist sociologists have criticised Murdock’s ideas on gender roles and family functions, arguing that they generally disadvantage women.
• Other scholars pointed out that the four major functions of the nuclear family, defined by Murdock, can be and lately are fulfilled by other institutions in society. For example, the educational function has largely been transmitted to schools and universities.
• Anthropologists have argued that some societies are not based on families, as Murdock suggests. There are settlements, where children are taken away from their biological parents and are raised collectively by specific adults of the community.

George Murdock quotes

Before we finish, let's look at some quotes taken from Murdock's works.

• On the definition of the family, 1949

• On the nuclear family, 1949

• On the theory of kinship, 1949