Quick Facts
Biography
Kate Fox is a social anthropologist, co-director of the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) and a Fellow of the Institute for Cultural Research. She has written several books, including Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour.
Background
Kate Fox is the daughter of anthropologist Robin Fox.As a child she lived in the UK, the United States, France, and Ireland. She studied for an undergraduate degree in anthropology and philosophy at Cambridge University. In 1989 she became co-director of MCM Research Ltd., and continues to provide consulting services.She is now a co-director of the Social Issues Research Centre, based in Oxford, England.
Publications
Fox has written a number of books. Her titles include:
- Marsh, Peter; Kate Fox Kibby (1992). Drinking and Public Disorder: A Report of Research Conducted for the Portman Group by MCM Research. Portman Group. ISBN 978-0-9518762-0-6.
- Kate Fox (1993). Pubwatching with Desmond Morris. Alan Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-0532-9.
- Kate Fox (1996). Passport to the Pub: The Tourist's Guide to Pub Etiquette. Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association. ISBN 978-1-899344-09-3.
- Kate Fox (7 October 1999). The Racing Tribe: Watching the Horsewatchers. Metro Books. ISBN 978-0-7658-0838-7.
- Kate Fox (2004). The Flirting Report. The Social Issues Research Center.
- Kate Fox (2004). Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-81886-7.
In this book, Fox does an anthropological analysis by conducting experiments and uses participant observation to discover the unwritten rules that makes an English person English. She tries to explain the cultural norms of the English, which are seen as peculiar by people who aren't English.
Current activities
Recent topics include social effects of alcohol and the purposes of small talk. Fox is currently writing a book about that “examine[s] many aspects of 21st-century life and obsessions - including mobile phones, social media, online dating, shopping, celebrity, reality TV, computer games, selfies, etc - from an evolutionary/anthropological perspective.”
Personal life
In 2004 Fox married the neurosurgeon and acclaimed author Henry Marsh, having been previously married to Peter Kibby (during which time she was credited as Kate Fox Kibby).