Wolf, Eric Robert

▪ 2000

      Austrian-born anthropologist and historian (b. Feb. 1, 1923, Vienna, Austria—d. March 6/7, 1999, Irvington, N.Y.), studied historical trends across civilizations and argued that individual cultures must be viewed in the context of global socioeconomic systems. His best-known book, Europe and the People Without History (1982), is a comparison of the effects of European expansion on indigenous peoples of Africa, the Americas, and the Far East. Wolf argued that global markets shaped the practices of these peoples even before their first contacts with Europeans and that market forces had continued to shape these populations through demand for labour, migration, and changes in demands for raw materials. Wolf, the son of a Russian mother and an Austrian father, was a teenager when the Nazis occupied Vienna. He and his family escaped to England, and in 1940 Wolf moved to New York City. At Columbia University, Wolf studied under legendary anthropologists Ruth Benedict and Julian Steward. He was one of the founding members of the Mundial Upheaval Society, a graduate student group that included Sidney Mintz, Elman Service, Stanley Diamond, and Morton Fried, all of whom went on to play major roles in anthropology. Although never a doctrinaire Marxist, Wolf believed that anthropology could be improved by the introduction of Marxian concepts. His emphasis on political economy and historical process used Marxian ideas to challenge the functionalist model of cultures as static isolates and played a major role in introducing ideas of power and material forces into cultural anthropology. Wolf's advocacy of the “underdog,” born of his experiences during World War II, was also shown in his opposition to the Vietnam War. At the University of Michigan in 1965, Wolf, along with anthropologist Marshall Sahlins, led the first antiwar teach-in. Wolf summed his career up with these words: “My primary interest is to explain something out there that impinges upon me, and I would sell my soul to the Devil if I thought it would help.” Anthropologist Sydel Silverman was his wife.

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