Morton Herbert Fried (March 21, 1923 in Bronx, New York – December 18, 1986 in

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,304, an increase of 367 (+4.1%) from the 2010 United Sta ...

),Morton Fried page at Minnesota State University's ''EMuseum''
was a distinguished

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from 1950 until his death in 1986. He made considerable contributions to the fields of

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

political theory Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from d ...

Biography

Fried attended

Townsend Harris High School Townsend Harris High School (THHS; often also shortened to Townsend Harris or simply Townsend) is a public high school for the humanities in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the campus of Queens College, a public college p ...

and then the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

. At City College, he was originally an English major but changed to anthropology. While a student at CCNY, Fried and his friend Richard F. Shepard formed the Mundial Upheaval Society, which later flourished at Columbia University. Fried served in the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after one year of graduate work in anthropology at Columbia. In the Army, he was sent to Harvard to learn Chinese and he went on to specialize in the anthropology of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, earning his Ph.D. at Columbia in 1951. He did fieldwork in 1947–48 in

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

Province, China, and published his research in ''The Fabric of Chinese Society'' (1953). His mentors were

Julian Steward Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902 – February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change. Early life and ed ...

and Karl Wittfogel. His cohort included

Elman Service Elman Rogers Service (May 18, 1915 – November 14, 1996) was an American cultural anthropologist. Biography He was born on May 18, 1915, in Tecumseh, Michigan and died on November 14, 1996, in Santa Barbara, California. He earned a bachelor' ...

, Eric Wolf, Sidney Mintz and

Stanley Diamond Stanley Diamond (January 4, 1922 in New York City, NY – March 31, 1991 in New York City, NY) was an American poet and anthropologist. As a young man, he identified as a poet, and his disdain for the fascism of the 1930s greatly influenced ...

. His first graduate teaching assistant was Marvin Harris and his first graduate student was

Marshall Sahlins Marshall David Sahlins ( ; December 27, 1930April 5, 2021) was an American cultural anthropologist best known for his ethnographic work in the Pacific and for his contributions to anthropological theory. He was the Charles F. Grey Distinguishe ...

. He taught one semester at Yale University during the All Term of 1965. He was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan for one year, 1960–61. He married Martha Nemes, and the couple had two children, Nancy Fried Foster, an anthropologist and Elman Steven Fried, a writer and filmmaker. A resident of

, Fried died at his home there on December 18, 1986.Staff
"Dr. Morton Fried, 63, Anthropology Teacher"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', December 20, 1986. Accessed May 16, 2016. "Dr. Morton H. Fried, a professor of anthropology at Columbia University, died of cardiac arrest Thursday night at his home in Leonia, N.J."

Select bibliography

*Fried, Morton H. 1959. ''Readings in anthropology.'' New York: Crowell. *Fried, Morton H. 1960. ''On the evolution of social stratification and the state.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. *Fried, Morton. 1965. "A Four Letter Word that Hurts." SATURDAY REVIEW, October 2,. 1965 *Fried, Morton H. 1967. ''The evolution of political society an essay in political anthropology.'' Random House studies in anthropology, AS 7. New York: Random House. *American Anthropological Association, Morton H. Fried, Marvin Harris, and Robert Francis Murphy. 1968. ''War: the anthropology of armed conflict and aggression.'' Garden City, N.Y.: Published for the American Museum of Natural History ythe Natural History Press. *Fried, Morton H. 1969. ''Fabric of Chinese society; a study of the social life of a Chinese county seat.'' New York: Octagon Books. *Fried, Morton H. 1975. ''The notion of tribe.'' Menlo Park, Calif: Cummings Pub. Co. *Fried, Martha Nemes, and Morton H. Fried. 1980. ''Transitions: four rituals in eight cultures.'' New York: Norton. *Fried, Morton H. 1987. ''Reflections on Christianity in China.'' AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST 14:1, Frontiers of Christian Evangelism, (Feb., 1987): 94-106.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fried, Morton H. 1923 births 1986 deaths City College of New York alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty American cultural anthropologists American social anthropologists University of Michigan faculty People from the Bronx People from Leonia, New Jersey Townsend Harris High School alumni