Bronisław Malinowski

Functionalism is the theory that Malinowski is attributed to. Malinowski’s Functionalism is different that the type of anthropological functionalism that came before. Malinowski himself writes in an article about his version of functionalism that his version “insists that man in his full biological reality is to be drawn into our analysis of culture”. Over all, Malinowski means that people are biologically different, but are dependent on each other to work as one society.

Bronislaw Malinowski was a polish born naturalized British citizen. He is considered the founder of the anthropological theory of functionalism and one of the pioneers of participant observation. Malinowski's most famous anthropological research was on the Trobriand islands, where he lived among the people, setting up his tent near the Chief’s tent. He studied the culture there for altogether around 4 years. 

In the late 1910′s, Malinowski studied the cultures in the Trobriand islands.

Malinowski produced an article about economics among the people living in the Trobriand islands. He studied how they worked, their motivation, and economics. He concluded that economics among the Trobriand people were not as “savage” as Europeans think. 

Malinowski’s experience in the Trobriand islands was different that most European anthropologists, as he decided that living among them in their village was better than staying with other Europeans outside of the village. This was Malinowski engaging in participant observation.