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35 pages 1 hour read

Ruth Benedict

Patterns of Culture

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1934

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Index of Terms

Anthropology

The study of the human condition from a holistic and comparative perspective across time and space. Benedict popularized the field of study with her book.

Apollonian

A personality type or worldview that emphasizes characteristics of self-control, restraint, and equanimity. Benedict applies an Apollonian worldview to describe the gestalt or cultural configuration of the Zuñi.

Configurationalism

The search for cultural patterns. Benedict applies this methodological approach in her analysis of the personality types or worldviews of cultural groups.

Cultural Relativism

A methodological position that one should not view or judge another culture by one’s own standards but rather view it on its own terms. This is a main argument for cross-cultural understanding and tolerance that Benedict uses throughout the text. 

Culture

The totality of a group of people’s habits, values, attitudes, and organizational patterns. Benedict popularizes this term to a non-specialist audience.

Dionysian

A personality type or worldview that emphasizes characteristics of excess, pleasure-seeking, and megalomania. Benedict describes the gestalt or cultural configuration of the Kwakiutl as Dionysian.

Dobuans

One of three groups of people that Benedict uses as an extended ethnographic case study to support her theory of cultural configurations. The Dobuans are part of a cultural group that Benedict refers to as inhabiting Dobu Island in Melanesia or modern-day Papua New Guinea.

Enculturation

The process by which culture is learned and transmitted across the generations. Enculturation is a key feature to Benedict’s argument that culture is socially and not biologically constituted.

Ethnocentric

The view that one’s own culture is superior to another culture. An ethnocentric view limits cross-cultural understanding and tolerance for other ways of living.

Gestalt

A concept in psychological anthropology. Benedict uses it to describe the dominant personality type and cultural configuration of entire groups of people, as seen with the Zuñi, Dobuans, and Kwakiutl.

Holistic

An overarching or all-encompassing approach to studying human cultures. that was popularized by Franz Boas and promoted by his students, like Ruth Benedict

Kula Ring

A ceremonial exchange system in Melanesia, with the purpose of exchanging valuables to increase the social prestige of trading partners. The Dobuans participated in this exchange system.

Kwakiutl

One of three groups of people that Benedict uses as an extended ethnographic case study to support her theory of cultural configuration. The Kwakiutl are part of a cultural group that Benedict refers to as the American Indians of the Northwest Pacific coast or modern-day Vancouver Island.

Personality Type

A worldview, such as Apollonian or Dionysian, that can express the cultural configuration of an entire group of people.

Potlatch

The ceremonial distribution of property and gifts, including feasts to increase the social status of donors and recipients. A key feature of the ceremonial life of the Kwakiutl and their public displays of excess.

Psychological Anthropology

A branch of anthropology that studies the relationship between personalities and cultures. Influenced by Franz Boas’s view of culture as a mental phenomenon and popularized by his students, like Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead.

Wabuwabu

A Dobuan cultural practice that emphasizes personal gain at the expense of others. For Benedict, this highly valorized practice of treachery exemplifies the cultural configuration of Dobu as a whole.

Zuñi

One of three groups of people that Benedict uses as an extended ethnographic case study to support her theory of cultural configuration. The Zuñi are part of a cultural group that Benedict refers to as the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest or modern-day New Mexico.

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