Theories of Illness: A World Survey - Softcover

Murdock, George Peter

9780822984849: Theories of Illness: A World Survey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822984849 ISBN 13: 9780822984849

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980

An important contribution to medical anthropology, this work defines the principal causes if illness that are reported throughout the world, distinguishing those involving natural causation from the more widely prevalent hypotheses advancing supernatural explanations.

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Review:

"Theories of Illness will be most interesting and useful to those who are already familiar with, and sympathetic to, the methods and basic assumptions of the comparative method in cross-cultural research. It contains an excellent and thorough, though brief, introduction to the history of this sort of research, and an equally good presentation of the methods used."
--Journal of Anthropological Research

"Theories of Illness is a valuable book. . . . The practical ramifications are also extremely broad. . . . Should be stimulating and thought-provoking to those in the social and medical sciences."
--Queen's Quarterly

"This slim but powerful book is one of the most recent products of the modern cross cultural correlational studies pioneered by the author. . . . It should interest just about anyone who investigates folk medicine, religion, and magic, or who teaches courses dealing with these subjects."
--Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

"The titan of comparative ethnography, George Peter Murdock, has added one more volume to his prodigious production: Theories of Illness. . . . Thought-provoking and delightfully written. It deserves the attention of a wide audience."
--Etnografiska Museet

"Murdock has written an intriguing little book. Full of fascinating findings, some serendipitous, Theories of Illness should be read by all medical anthropologists, but especially by those interested in ethnomedicine and native theories of illness causation."
--Medical Anthropology Newsletter

About the Author:

George Peter Murdock (1897-1985) was Andrew Mellon Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.

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