Westermarck, Edward

Westermarck, Edward

 

Born Nov. 20, 1862, in Hel-singfors, now Helsinki; died Sept. 4, 1939, in Lapinlahti. Finnish ethnologist and sociologist.

Westermarck was a professor at the University of London from 1907 to 1930 and a professor at the Swedish university in the city of Turku (Finland) from 1918 to 1932. His major work, The History of Human Marriage, is valuable for its abundant factual material but is extremely controversial in its general conclusions. (Westermarck defended the reactionary theory of the primordial nature of the monogamous family.)

WORKS

The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, vols. 1-2. London, 1906-08.
The History of Human Marriage, 5th ed., vols. 1-3. London, 1925.
Ritual and Belief in Morocco, vols. 1-2. [London] 1926.