Pierre L. van den Berghe
Pierre L. van den Berghe (1933 – February 6, 2019) was a Belgian-born American sociologist and anthropologist. He was a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, where he taught from 1965 until retirement. Born in the Belgian Congo to Belgian parents, he spent World War II in occupied Belgium, experiences that shaped his interest in ethnic conflict and racism and his later work on ethnic relations. He conducted fieldwork in South Africa, Mexico, Guatemala, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, and Israel. Early in his career he lectured at the University of Natal with Leo Kuper and Fatima Meer. He earned a PhD from Harvard University in 1960, studying under Talcott Parsons. Although trained by Parsons, he favored sociobiological approaches rather than structural functionalism. Van den Berghe died in Seattle, United States, on February 6, 2019.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:46 (CET).