French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss dies aged 100

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 14:35 in Psychology & Sociology

Structuralist thinker is credited with revolutionising the study of anthropology for the 20th centuryFrance was paying tribute tonight to one of its greatest intellectuals, the social anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who has died at the age of 100. The structuralist thinker, who devoted his five-decade career to the study of the human species around the world, is credited with having revolutionised the study of anthropology for the 20th century.A statement from Paris's School for the Advanced Studies of Social Sciences said Lévi-Strauss had passed away at the weekend. He was less than a month from marking his 101st birthday.Tonight tributes poured in from across France. Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said Lévi-Strauss stood out not only for his scholarly accomplishments but also for his "moral convictions". "[He] broke with an ethnocentric vision of history and humanity," Kouchner said. "At a time when we are trying to give meaning to globalisation, to build...

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