Harvey Whitehouse

Professor Harvey Whitehouse is Chair in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. He is Director for the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion, the world's leading institute researching the social glue that binds societies together. In his work for the Centre, Whitehouse draws on insights from anthropology, neuroscience, history and psychology to explore why some societies come together and others fall apart. Whitehouse has undertaken field research in regions as diverse as Asia,...See more

Professor Harvey Whitehouse is Chair in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. He is Director for the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion, the world's leading institute researching the social glue that binds societies together. In his work for the Centre, Whitehouse draws on insights from anthropology, neuroscience, history and psychology to explore why some societies come together and others fall apart. Whitehouse has undertaken field research in regions as diverse as Asia, Africa, South America, Australasia and Melanesia. It has taken him to some of the world's most important archaeological sites, brain-scanning facilities, and child psychology labs - as well as to the heart of some of the world's most embittered conflicts and extremist groups. He is also a founding director of Seshat , the world's largest database on human history. The project attempts to bring together the most comprehensive body about human civilization in one place, to test different hypotheses about the rise and fall of large-scale societies across the globe. In academic circles, Whitehouse is best known as one of the founders of the Cognitive Science of Religion, a highly influential approach to the study of religion. His theory of 'modes of religiosity' has been the subject of extensive discussion among anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, cognitive scientists and evolutionary theorists. Whitehouse's research has featured in the Economist , Scientific American , New Scientist and The Times . He has delivered talks at the World Economic Forum and served as the Chief Consultant for a BBC Two documentary series, Extraordinary Rituals . He lives in Oxford. See less