Peter Maurice Worsley (6 May 1924 – 15 March 2013) was a noted

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

sociologist and

social anthropologist Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

. He was a major figure in both anthropology and sociology, and is noted for introducing the term ''

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

'' into English. He not only made theoretical and ethnographic contributions, but also was regarded as a key founding member of the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

.Peel, JDY (2013) Peter Worsley obituary: Sociologist who did much to define the idea of a 'third world', ''The Guardian'', Thursday 28 March
(Accessed April 2013)Peter Worsley: A Life, interviewed by Alan Macfarlane
(Accessed April 2013)

Early life and education

Born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, Worsley started reading English at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, but his studies were interrupted by

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 ...

. He served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

as an officer in Africa and India. During this time, he developed his interest in

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 ...

. After the war, he worked on mass education in Tanganyika and then went to study under

Max Gluckman Herman Max Gluckman (; 26 January 1911 – 13 April 1975) was a South African and British social anthropologist. He is best known as the founder of the Manchester School of anthropology. Biography and major works Gluckman was born in Joha ...

at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. He received his PhD from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Career

He lectured in sociology at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

and then went on to become the first Professor of Sociology at the

in 1964.

Awards

Winner of the Curl Bequest Prize (1955) of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

for ''The kinship system of the Tallensi: a revaluation'' (Published in JRAI 1956, pp. 37–75).

Key works

*. *. *. *. *. *. * Subsequent publications by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London), 1984 & 1988. . * Subsequent publications 1998 & 1999. Alternative . * Subsequent publications

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

1989, 1990 ; 2002 .

References

* David Simon (ed) (2006) Fifty Key Thinkers in Development, Routledge *

Citations

External links

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 25 February 1989 (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worsley, Peter Academics of the University of Hull Academics of the University of Manchester Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Manchester British sociologists Development specialists British Army personnel of World War II 1924 births 2013 deaths Presidents of the British Sociological Association New Left