Radcliffe-Brown was seen as the classic to Bronislaw Malinowski's romantic. Radcliffe-Brown brought French sociology (namely Emile Durkheim) to British anthropology, constructing a rigorous battery of concepts to frame ethnography. Although he often rejected it, Radcliffe-Brown was associated with functionalism, specifically considered to be the founder of structural functionalism. While Malinowski was attributed with the methodological foundations of anthropological fieldwork, Radcliffe-Brown was attributed with developing a sophisticated functionalist theoretical framework.

Radcliffe-Brown also contributed extensively to the anthropological ideas on kinship.

University appointments:

• University of Cape Town (1920-25)
• University of Sydney (1925-31)
• University of Chicago (1931-37)

• The Andaman Islanders (1922)
• Social Organization of Australian Tribes (1931)
• Structure and Function in Primitive Society (1935)