Radin, Paul

Radin, Paul

▪ American anthropologist
born April 2, 1883, Łódź, Pol.
died Feb. 21, 1959, New York City

      U.S. anthropologist who was influential in advancing a historical model of social structures based on a synthesis of approaches, including social theory, economics, religion, philosophy, and psychology. He pioneered in such important fields of anthropology as culture-personality studies and the use of autobiographical documents. An accomplished linguist, he described a number of North American languages and advanced a classification scheme emphasizing their unity.

      Radin's outlook was influenced by the skeptical humanism of U.S. historian James Harvey Robinson and the views of anthropologist Franz Boas. Radin took his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1911. He made his first field study among the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) Indians of Wisconsin (1908) and, starting with The Winnebago Tribe (1915–16), eventually treated nearly every aspect of their culture. The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian (1920; retitled Crashing Thunder, 1926) exemplifies his use of autobiographical documents as do The Road of Life and Death (1945) and The Culture of the Winnebago: As Described by Themselves (1949). For many years a field anthropologist for the geological survey of Canada, Radin also taught at various times at several universities, including California (Berkeley), Chicago, Cambridge, and Brandeis (Waltham, Mass.).

      Radin was interested in the folklore, religion, and language of peoples who were then called “primitive,” whose mentality he viewed as different in degree, but not in kind, from that of their industrialized and urbanized contemporaries. He considered their responses to life's main challenges to be profound, sophisticated, and comprehensible, and he was generally skeptical of notions of progress in moral awareness.

      Over the years Radin wrote a number of significant works. His major linguistic contribution is The Genetic Relationship of the North American Indian Languages (1919). He contrasts two historical temperamental types in Primitive Man as Philosopher (1927) and Primitive Religion (1938). His principal critical–theoretical work is thought to be Method and Theory of Ethnology (1933). Radin's ideas attracted the interest of such diverse individuals as sociologist Lewis Mumford, psychoanalyst Carl Jung, poet John Crowe Ransom, and philosopher John Dewey.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • RADIN, PAUL — (1883–1959), U.S. anthropologist. Born in Lodz, Russian Poland, Paul Radin was the youngest son of adolph radin , a rabbi, and brother of Herman, a physician, and of max radin , an eminent legal scholar. He studied first in Europe, then in New… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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  • Paul Radin — (* 2. April 1883 in Łódź, Polen; † 21. Februar 1959 in New York City) war ein US amerikanischer Anthropologe. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Familie 2 Leben 3 Feldforschungen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Radin — ist der Name folgender Personen: Joshua Radin, amerikanischer Musiker, Sänger und Autor Paul Radin (1883–1959), amerikanischer Anthropologe Radin ist ein Stadtteil von Bludenz. Diese Seite ist eine …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Radin —   [ reɪdɪn], Paul, amerikanischer Völkerkundler polnischer Herkunft, * Lodz 2. 4. 1883, ✝ New York 21. 2. 1959; Professor in Fiske (Tennessee), Berkeley (Calif.), Chicago (Illinois), Cambridge (Großbritannien), Waltham ( …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Paul Radin — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Radin (homonymie). Paul Radin (2 avril 1883 à Lodz, Pologne[1] – 21 février 1959) était un anthropologue américain. Étudiant de Franz Boas à Columbia, il y étudia avec Edward Sapir et …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Radin (homonymie) — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Sur les autres projets Wikimedia : « Radin (homonymie) », sur le Wiktionnaire (dictionnaire universel) Un radin est une personne avare.… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Radin — /rayd n/, n. Paul, 1883 1959, U.S. anthropologist, born in Poland. * * * …   Universalium

  • Radin — /rayd n/, n. Paul, 1883 1959, U.S. anthropologist, born in Poland …   Useful english dictionary

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