James George Frazer (Glasgow, Scotland, January 1, 1854 – Cambridge, United Kingdom, May 7, 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of modern studies on magic, mythology, and comparative religion.

His most famous work, *The Golden Bough* (1890), documents and details the similarities between magical and religious beliefs around the world.

Frazer postulated that human belief progressed through three stages: primitive magic, replaced by religion, which was in turn replaced by science.