Abstract
DR. RUTH BENEDICT, in a stimulating and at times provocative book, has imported the theory of relativity into the study of social anthropology, which she, like some others, regards as the whole of anthropology. She argues that in the study of cultures, European spectacles and European standards must be abandoned, and the elements of any given culture under inspection evaluated exclusively in the terms of the culture to which they belong. How this works out in actual practice is demonstrated by a study of three strongly contrasted cultures, that of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico, of tho natives of Dobu in Melanesia and the Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island. In the case of each, sho shows the characteristic reaction produced by analogous circumstances in contrasting social conditions.
Patterns of Culture
By Ruth Benedict. Pp. xiii + 291. (London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1935.) 10s. 6d. net.
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 136, 322 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136322a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136322a0