Editing George Murdock (section)

{{Short description|American anthropologist}}
{{about||the American actor|George Murdock (actor)|people with a similar name|George Murdoch (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name              = George Peter Murdock
| image             = George Peter Murdock Anthropologist.jpg
| caption           = George Murdock
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1897|5|11}}
| birth_place       = [[Meriden, Connecticut]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1985|03|29|1897|05|11}}
| death_place       = [[Devon, Pennsylvania]]
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = 
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[Anthropology]]
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = 
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Albert Galloway Keller]]
| doctoral_students = [[Ward Goodenough]], [[John Whiting (anthropologist)|John Whiting]]
| known_for         = [[cross-cultural studies]]; [[Human Relations Area Files]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = [[Viking Fund Medal]] (1949)
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = 
}}
{{Anthropology}}
'''George Peter ("Pete") Murdock''' (May 11, 1897 – March 29, 1985), also known as '''G. P. Murdock''', was an American [[anthropologist]] who was professor at Yale University and University of Pittsburgh. He is remembered for his empirical approach to ethnological studies and his study of family and kinship structures across differing cultures. 

His 1967 ''[[Ethnographic Atlas]]'' dataset on more than 1,200 pre-industrial societies is influential and frequently used in social science research.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murdock |first1=George Peter |title=Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary |journal=Ethnology |date=April 1967 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=109 |doi=10.2307/3772751}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lowes |first=Sara |chapter=Chapter 6 - Ethnographic and field data in historical economics |date=2021 |title=The Handbook of Historical Economics |pages=147–177 |editor-last=Bisin |editor-first=Alberto |publisher=Academic Press |language=en |isbn=978-0-12-815874-6 |editor2-last=Federico |editor2-first=Giovanni |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-815874-6.00013-7}}</ref> He also created the ''[[Standard Cross-Cultural Sample]]'' with [[Douglas R. White]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murdock |first1=George P. |last2=White |first2=Douglas R. |title=Standard Cross-Cultural Sample |journal=Ethnology |date=1969 |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=329–369 |doi=10.2307/3772907}}</ref>

He is also known for his work as an FBI informant on his fellow anthropologists during [[McCarthyism]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}