Transcript Alan Macfarlane - UL University of Limerick

Alan Macfarlane

Macfarlane is an
anthropologist and
historian
 He is from Britain,
but was born in
India in 1941
 He received his
M.A. and D.Phil from
Worcester College,
Oxford
Macfarlane’s Career
He was a lecturer of social anthropology
at the University of Cambridge from
1975-1981
 He became professor of anthropological
science in 1991
 In 1981 he was appointed a fellow at
King’s College, Cambridge

Macfarlane’s Career
He was with the Department of Social
Anthropology at Cambridge University
for 34 years and is now an Emeritus
Professor and Life Fellow
 His first publication called ‘Population
Crisis: Anthropology’s Failure’ was
published in 1968

Macfarlane’s Career
His article ‘Demographic Structures and
Cultural Regions in Europe’ was
published in 1981
 Some of his work is still being translated
into other languages but his publishing
career stopped around 2005-2006

Demographic Structures and
Cultural Regions in Europe

Published in 1981
by Cambridge
Anthropology
 In his article
Macfarlane looks at
the relationship
between
demography and the
modern world
Main Arguments
His main argument is to show how ‘culture,’
referring specifically to demography(birth,
marriage, and death), had an effect on
shaping modern Europe
 To support his argument he uses Hajnal’s
theory: a line separates Europe into east and
west and this line creates different marriage
and birth patterns

Main Arguments
He also uses the recent theory that
there is also a line that separates
Europe into north and south
 North of the line households were closer
and smaller while in the south families
were bigger and extended

Summary of Article
Macfarlane uses these two theories to
examine different regions and explain
why some areas had differing rates in
births, marriages, and deaths
 Throughout the article he also explores
the relationship between demography
and economy, politics, and technology

Summary of Article

So while Macfarlane presents many
good arguments it is still hard to
determine exactly what key factor
contributes to differing demography in
Europe.