Lévi-Strauss, Claude

(1908- )

   anthropologist

   The leading proponent of structuralism in social anthropology, Claude Lévi-Strauss was born in Brussels, Belgium, and raised in France. He studied at the sorbonne and, in 1935, became professor of sociology (1935-39) at the University of Sâo Paulo, Brazil. There, he pursued field studies of the Native American tribes. Lévi-Strauss also taught at the New School for Social Research, in New York City (1942-45), served as associate director of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris (1949), and as director of studies at the École pratique des hautes études (1950-74). In 1959, he became professor of social anthropology at the collège de france. Lévi-Strauss is preeminent among those scholars who believe that the various cultural traits of all human communities demonstrate a common underlying framework. In this he was influenced by émile durkheim and others. Lévi-Strauss further believed that such basic structural concepts as time, color and gender became elaborated through culture. He developed the idea of contrasting, but complementary, groups known as "moieties," which exist in each human culture. He also expounded the idea that totemism is merely an anthropological concept that has no objective reality. Lévi-Strauss's other writings include Structures élémentaires de la parenté (1949); Le Totémisme aujourd'hui (1962); La Pensée sauvage (1962); Le Cru e le Cuit (1964); Du miel aux cendres (1967); L'Origine des manières de table (1968); L'Homme nu (1971); Anthropologie structurale (1973), which is his manifesto. Lévi-Strauss was awarded the legion of honor and was made a member of the Académie Française in 1973.