George Murdock

George Peter Murdock
George Murdock
Born	(1897-05-11)May 11, 1897 Meriden, Connecticut
Died	March 29, 1985(1985-03-29) (aged 87) Devon, Pennsylvania
Known for	cross-cultural studies; Human Relations Area Files
Awards	Viking Fund Medal (1949)
Scientific career
Fields	Anthropology
Doctoral advisor	Albert Galloway Keller
Doctoral students	Ward Goodenough, John Whiting

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George Peter ("Pete") Murdock (May 11, 1897 – March 29, 1985), also known as G. P. Murdock, was an American anthropologist who was professor at Yale University and University of Pittsburgh. He is remembered for his empirical approach to ethnological studies and his study of family and kinship structures across differing cultures.

His 1967 Ethnographic Atlas dataset on more than 1,200 pre-industrial societies is influential and frequently used in social science research.^[1][2] He is also known for his work as an FBI informant on his fellow anthropologists during McCarthyism.