Montagu, Ashley

Montagu, Ashley (Montague Francis Ashley Montagu) (ăsh`lē mänt`əgyü), 1905–99, British-American anthropologist, b. London as Israel Ehrenberg, Ph.D. Columbia Univ., 1937. He was assistant professor of anatomy in the Graduate School of Medicine, New York Univ. (1931–38), associate professor at Hahnemann College and Hospital in Philadelphia (1938–49), and professor and chair of the department of anthropology at Rutgers Univ. (1949–55). He is best known for his argument that aggression is not a natural human drive and for having discredited "race" as a specious and dangerous concept in the social sciences. Montagu's writings achieved popular success, which diminished his acceptance among academics. Among his more than 60 works are The Nature of Human Aggression (1976), Growing Young (1981), Science and Creationism (1983), Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1942, 6th ed. 1998), and The Natural Superiority of Women (1953, 5th ed. 1999).

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Montagu, Ashley (b. Israel Ehrenberg) (1905–  ) cultural anthropologist; born in London, England. Educated in London, he studied at Florence (Italy) and Columbia University (New York City), then stayed in the U.S.A. to teach at New York University, the Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, and Rutgers, where he headed the anthropology department from 1949–55. His many publications include Coming into Being among the Australian Aborigines (1937), The Natural Superiority of Women (1953), and The Elephant Man (1971). In his work, he argued forcefully against the view that cultural phenomena are genetically determined and he published many popular articles and books applying his ideas to such contemporary issues as racism.