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Social Theorists

Louis Dumont

Anthropology

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Louis Dumont was a French anthropologist, born in Thessaloniki in 1911 and educated at the University of Paris. Citing Claude Levi-Strauss as his central inspiration, he became one of the first anthropologists to make an extended study of the caste system and kinship in South India, publishing the results in his best known book, Homo Hierarchicus: Essai sur le systeme des castes (1966). He later turned to the comparative study of Western social philosophy, contrasting holistic and individualist ideologies in From Mandeville to Marx: The Genesis and Triumph of Economic Ideology (1977) and Essais sur l'individualisme (1983). He taught at Oxford in the 1950s and later directed the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He died in Paris in 1998.

Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account
1911 1
Death YearSourced to the subject's own account
1998 1
BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own account
Thessaloniki, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire 1
Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own account
Paris, France 1
Defining ContributionSourced to the subject's own account
Comparative analysis of the Indian caste system and kinship, contrasting holism with individualism in social theory 1
Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own account
Homo Hierarchicus (1966) 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Cited Claude Levi-Strauss as his central intellectual inspiration.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Louis Dumont
WikipediaLead section
Quote, Lead section
Louis Charles Jean Dumont (11 August 1911 - 19 November 1998) was a French anthropologist.
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1. Wikipedia: Louis Dumont
WikipediaWorks sectionView the Source
1. Wikipedia: Louis Dumont
WikipediaAssociated With: Claude Lévi-Strauss, Biography sectionView the Source
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