Edvard Westermarck
| Edward Westermarck | |
|---|---|
Edvard Westermarck
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| Born |
20 November 1862 Helsinki, Finland |
| Died | 3 September 1939 (aged 76) Tenala, Finland |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Fields | Sociology |
| Institutions | London School of Economics |
| Known for | Westermarck effect |
| Influenced | Bronisław Malinowski |
Edvard Alexander Westermarck (20 November 1862 – 3 September 1939) was a Finnish philosopher and sociologist. Among other subjects, he studied exogamy and the incest taboo.
The phenomenon of reverse sexual imprinting is when two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, and both become desensitised to sexual attraction, now known as the Westermarck effect, was first formally described by him in his book The History of Human Marriage (1891).
He has been described as "first Darwinian sociologist" or "the first sociobiologist".
He helped found academic sociology in the United Kingdom, becoming the first professor of sociology (with Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse) in 1907 in the University of London. Other chairs he held were in Helsinki and Turku.
A radical free thinker for his time, he critiqued Christian institutions and Christian ideas on the grounds that they lacked foundation.
In the UK, his name is often spelled Edward. His sister, Helena Westermarck, was a writer and artist.
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Wikipedia