Raoul Naroll (September 10, 1920 – June 25, 1985) was a Canadian-born American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

who did much to promote the methodology of

cross-cultural studies Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called holocultural studies or comparative studies, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences such as sociology, psychology, economics, political science that uses field data from many societies thr ...

Early life and education

Naroll was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

but was raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

at the age of 16, dropping out in his junior year to join the military. In 1939, he joined the army serving in Infantry, as an Officer in the Army Finance Department and in the Military Intelligence Service, screening officials and prisoners of war in Germany. After the war, Naroll returned to UCLA, receiving an A.B. in 1950, a Master's in 1952, and his Ph.D. in history in 1953. He did fieldwork in Austria (1956) and in Greece, Switzerland and Belgium (1965–1966)."Raoul Naroll Papers, 1941-1986 22/9F/1107"
State University of New York at Buffalo. University Archives

Career

From 1954–1955, Naroll was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. After, he moved to the Washington, D.C. branch of the Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF) working as a research associate where he wrote country background studies. Naroll was a member of the faculty of the San Fernando Valley State College (later renamed

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

) (1957–1962),

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

(1962–1967), the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

(1967–1984), and was a past president of the

Human Relations Area Files The Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF), located in New Haven, Connecticut, US, is an international nonprofit membership organization with over 500 member institutions in more than 20 countries. A financially autonomous research agency based a ...

. The author of eight books, several articles and book reviews, Naroll did research in many disciplines. His first book, ''Data Quality Control, a new research technique; prolegomena to a cross-cultural study of culture stress,'' concerns the issue of trustworthiness of data and methodology used in studying cultures. Much of his later research was concerned with the application of cross-cultural anthropological theory to historical data. Texts such as ''Imperial Cycles and World Order (1966)'' and ''Military Deterrence in History (1974)'' Naroll, Raoul; Bullough, Vern L.; Naroll, Frada
''Military deterrence in history: a pilot cross-historical survey''
SUNY Press, 1974 point to Naroll's concerns and scholarship on war and military studies. ''The Moral Order: An Introduction to the Human Situation (1983)'' is a broad, evolutionary study of ten factors of social life, from a cross-cultural perspective.

Publications

* ''Data Quality Control'' (1962) * ''Imperial Cycles and World Order'' (1966) * ''Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology'' (1970) * ''Main Currents in Cultural Anthropology'' (1973) * ''Military Deterrence in History: A Pilot Cross Historical Survey'' (1974) * ''HRAFLIB (HRAF Hologeistic Computer Program Library)'' (1975) * ''Worldwide Theory Testing'' (1976) * ''The Moral Order: An Introduction to the Human Situation'' (1983)

Notes

External links

Human Relations Area Files
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naroll, Raoul 1920 births 1985 deaths Canadian anthropologists Canadian emigrants to the United States Cross-cultural studies People from Toronto University at Buffalo faculty 20th-century American anthropologists