Ruth Benedict was a pioneering anthropologist who became America’s leading specialist in the field, best known for her
“patterns of culture” theory
. Her book by that name revolutionized anthropological study, igniting the work of the culture and personality movement within anthropology.
What contribution did Ruth Benedict make to the field of culture and personality?
Patterns of Culture (1934), Benedict’s major contribution to anthropology,
compares Zuñi, Dobu, and Kwakiutl cultures in order to demonstrate how small a portion of the possible range of human behaviour is incorporated into any one culture; she argues that it is the “personality,” the particular complex of traits and
…
What is Ruth Benedict best known for?
Best known for
Patterns of Culture
(1934) and The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946), which remain key anthropological and cultural works, Benedict also wrote Zuni Mythology (1935) and Race: Science and Politics (1940).
What is the contribution of Margaret Mead in anthropology?
Margaret Mead was an American anthropologist
best known for her studies of the peoples of Oceania
. She also commented on a wide array of societal issues, such as women’s rights, nuclear proliferation, race relations, environmental pollution, and world hunger.
Why did Ruth Benedict believe that the purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe from human differences?
“The purpose of anthropology,” she stated, “is to make the world safe for human differences” (Haviland, Cultural Anthropology, 133). Her
emphasis on socialization implicitly critiqued theories of nature and inborn temperament
.
Who is the most famous anthropologist?
- Franz Boas (1858 – 1942) …
- Bronislaw Malinowski (1884 – 1942) …
- Margaret Mead (1901 – 1978) …
- Ruth Benedict (1877 – 1948) …
- Ralph Linton (1893 – 1953) …
- Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908 – 2009)
How does Ruth Benedict define culture?
‘” As Benedict wrote in that book, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought and action” (46). Each culture, she held, chooses from
“the great arc of human potentialities”
only a few characteristics which become the leading personality traits of the persons living in that culture.
What is the contribution of Bronislaw Malinowski?
Malinowski was
instrumental in transforming British social anthropology from an ethnocentric discipline concerned with historical origins and based on the writings of travelers, missionaries, and colonial administrators to one concerned with understanding the interconnections between various institutions and based on
…
Who was the first female anthropologist?
| Margaret Mead | Alma mater Barnard College Columbia University | Occupation Anthropologist |
|---|
What is the relationship between sociology and anthropology?
Anthropology studies human behavior more at the individual level, while
sociology focuses more on group behavior and relations with social structures and institutions
. Anthropologists conduct research using ethnography (a qualitative research method), while sociologists use both qualitative and quantitative methods.
What made Mead a controversial figure in the field of anthropology?
In addition to becoming widely recognized, Mead became an increasingly controversial figure during this period and was criticized by some people, including other anthropologists,
for offering her views on many different contemporary topics outside the scope of her research or expertise
.
What was lacking in the study of culture and personality?
In accounting for the lack of uniformity in the study of Culture and Personality, Robert LeVine, in Culture, Behavior and Personality (1982) argues that
there are five different perspectives characterizing the field
. Perhaps the most recognizable view was used by Ruth Benedict, Margret Mead, and Geoffrey Gore.
What did Margaret Mead discover about gender roles?
Mead found a
different pattern of male and female behavior
in each of the cultures she studied, all different from gender role expectations in the United States at that time. She found among the Arapesh a temperament for both males and females that was gentle, responsive, and cooperative.
What is the purpose of anthropology?
Anthropology is
the systematic study of humanity
, with the goal of understanding our evolutionary origins, our distinctiveness as a species, and the great diversity in our forms of social existence across the world and through time.
What is the study of humans?
Anthropology
is the study of people, past and present, with a focus on understanding the human condition both culturally and biologically.
Who is known as father of anthropology?
PARIS – Claude Levi-Strauss
, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, has died. He was 100.
