Patterns of Culture

By Ruth Benedict

Book Overview

This book was originally published in 1935. For some years past the scientific study of primitive peoples has experimented in a variety of directions for new methods of investigation. Criticism of the comparative method, of which Sir James Frazer is recognized as the foremost exponent all the world over, has been directed mainly against the fragmentary character of its evidence when torn from its context.

In this book Dr Benedict offers an alternative method of approach. The aim of the investigator, she maintains, should be the discovery in the diversity of cultures of the 'configuration' of each - that is the cultural drive in group and individual which determines the characteristic reaction to stimulus in any and every situation in life.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395074053
• ISBN13: 9780395074053
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
• Length: 291 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This Book Has At Least One Significant "Insight"

I read this book many years ago and I haven't looked at it lately. So, this is strictly from memory. What I remember about the book is that from the book I acquired this "insightful idea" : that as we learn our own culture we become a "prisoner" of our ONE culture. We become a prisoner because we only know ONE culture. If we only know ONE culture we have "no choice" but to "live and think" WITHIN that ONE culture. But, if we know two or three or twenty cultures we can then "free" outselves from living and thinking and perceiving in ONE way. We will then have choices BETWEEN more than one way of life, we will have choices between more than one way of thinking and we will have choices between more than one way of perceiving the world. The knowledge of more than one culture gives us "more freedom" of choice. Thus we cease to be "a prisoner of culture". We become somewhat of an "overman" because we are "free to choose" among many cultural possibilities that people with only ONE culture cannot. And, we can become a "participant observer" among many cultures. We can choose how to live, perceive, and think among many more possibilities which gives us "more freedom" of action. This "insight" has freed me to choose "the best" aspects among many cultures thus enriching my life and giving me more choices about how to live my life. If this book does the same for you, then it has served its purpose. I recommend the book because of the "cultural freedom" you may acquire from reading it. Email: Boland7214@aol.com

a classic in the field

This book describes several diverse cultures in depth and detail. The emphasis is on overall world view and the conceptual foundations of each culture. The writing is lucid, involving and evocative. This book sheds more light on the issue of what is basic to all human nature, and what is culturaly influenced, then any other I know.