Louis Dumont, who died in 1998, was one of the most important figures in
post-war French anthropology. He is well-known for his early work on
India, which culminated in Homo Hierarchicus (1966; in English 1972,
1980), an anthropological account of the caste system. He later extended
this work into a comparison of the values of Indian and western society
in works like Essays on Individualism (1986) and German ideology:
From France to Germany and Back (1994). He is also known for pioneering
work on kinship in south India and more generally (for example Affinity
as a Value, 1983). The current volume represents the fruits of this
side of his activities and originated in as a series of lectures
providing an account of the British and French schools for students.