South African social anthropologist esteemed for his contributions to political and legal anthropology, particularly his analyses of the cultural and social dimensions of law and politics among African peoples. Examining feud and conflict, he considered their relation to cultural change in Custom and Conflict in Africa (1955).

After field study in Zululand (1936–38), Gluckman became assistant anthropologist with the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute of Northern Rhodesia and made studies in Barotseland (1939–41). While director of the institute (1941–47), he worked among the Ila and Tonga people (1944) and the Lamba (1946). A lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Oxford (1947–49), he later served as professor of social anthropology at the University of Manchester. The scope of Gluckman's work is reflected in the titles of his many books, which include Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa (1954); Politics, Law, and Ritual in Tribal Society (1965); and The Ideas in Barotse Jurisprudence (1965). He also was editor of The Allocation of Responsibility (1972).