Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

descent

(Encyclopedia)descent, in anthropology, method of classifying individuals in terms of their various kinship connections. Matrilineal and patrilineal descent refer to the mother's or father's sib (or other group), r...

Collett, Camilla (Wergeland)

(Encyclopedia)Collett, Camilla (Wergeland) kämēˈlä vĕrˈgəlän kôlˈĕt [key], 1813–95, Norwegian feminist novelist, essayist, and literary critic. Her feminist novels include The District Governor's Daugh...

experience

(Encyclopedia)experience, living through events and the impression on a person or animal of events. In epistemology, a distinction is made between things known inductively, from experience, and those known deductiv...

Ross, Edward Alsworth

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Edward Alsworth, 1866–1951, American sociologist, b. Virden, Ill., Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, 1891. He taught economics (1893–1900) at Stanford Univ., from which he was ousted in a controversy ove...

Radičová, Iveta

(Encyclopedia)Radičová, Iveta, 1956–, Slovakian political leader, b. Bratislava. A sociologist, she graduated from the Univ. of Bratislava (B.A., 1979; Ph.D., 1981), later teaching at Comenius Univ. and doing r...

Castex, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Castex, Jean, 1965–, French government official and political leader. A member of the center-right Republicans (and its predecessor, the Union for a Popular Movement), Castex has held a variety of c...

Simmel, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Simmel, Georg gāˈôrk zĭmˈəl [key], 1858–1918, German philosopher and sociologist. At the universities of Berlin and Strasbourg he was an influential lecturer. Basing his social philosophy on a...

Tarde, Gabriel de

(Encyclopedia)Tarde, Gabriel de gäbrēĕlˈ də tärd [key], 1843–1904, French sociologist and criminologist. During his years of public service as a magistrate, he became interested in the psychosocial bases of...

Kautsky, Karl Johann

(Encyclopedia)Kautsky, Karl Johann kärl yōˈhän koutˈskē [key], 1854–1938, German-Austrian socialist, b. Prague. A leading figure in the effort to spread Marxist doctrine in Germany, he was the principal dev...

chief

(Encyclopedia)chief or chieftain, political leader of a band, tribe, or confederation of tribes. At the simpler levels of social organization, the band or tribe usually lacks centralized authority and is ruled by t...