Oscar Lewis was the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants,
and the first person in his family born in
America. Raised in upstate New York, he worked
on his parents’ farm and helped with the
family’s small business.
In 1936, Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree
in history at the City College of New York
and immediately began work toward a master’s
degree in anthropology at Columbia University.
There he developed an interest in the relationships
between economics and culture.
Lewis joined the faculty at Illinois in 1948
and began research on communities. His research
focus switched to families after Lewis married
psychologist Ruth Maslow, sister of well-known
psychologist Abraham Maslow. She became Lewis’
greatest collaborator and was naturally gifted
in editing research materials into narrative
form. Lewis and his wife saw the narrative
as a more effective means of introducing his
findings to the public.
Together they published several books, including
the best sellers Children of Sánchez and
La Vida, winner of the 1967 National Book
Award for nonfiction. These narratives shed
light on actual living conditions of the poor
in their respective locations, but also stirred
considerable political turmoil.
Lewis’ theory was called the “culture
of poverty” in the United States. It soon
became a political catch phrase in the debate
between government and individual responsibility
for helping the poor. After his work was translated
into Spanish, it caused a national scandal
in Mexico and resulted in a campaign portraying
Lewis as a foreigner who had slandered the
country by exposing its poverty.
Lewis seemed to never satisfactorily explain
his ideas, or escape the accusation that he
blamed the poor for their poverty. But he
continued to advocate helping the poor. He
supported governmental intervention programs,
and directly influenced policies implemented
to combat poverty.
Lewis’ last field research site was Cuba
under Fidel Castro’s rule. Lewis suffered
a heart attack after being detained and accused
by Cuban officials of being a CIA agent. He
died six months later wishing he could return
to Cuba and finish his research.
Julian Steward grew up in Washington and attended
a prep school in California. While there,
he met and befriended Shoshone and Northern
Paiute Indians. Native Americans, particularly
these two nations, were frequently featured
in Steward’s future anthropological work.
Steward earned his bachelor’s degree in
zoology from Cornell University. Soon after,
he returned to California, completing a doctorate
degree in anthropology from the University
of California at Berkley. *Steward had a fierce
desire to preserve as much information as
possible on the native North American Indians
and their culture. Like Lewis, he sought to
understand people from a holistic perspective:
analyzing every aspect of their lives.
In 1952 Steward came to the University of
Illinois as a seasoned lecturer, but didn’t
stay in the classroom for long. Within a year
he was invited to research American culture
full time at the Bureau of American Ethnology
at Smithsonian Institute.
In 1953, Steward received the Wenner-Gren
Foundation’s Viking Award for developing
cultural ecology. The Viking Award is considered
among the highest honors for anthropological
research.
