This presentation covers two articles by Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, namely Psychological types in the cultures of the Southwest and Introduction to Sex (1930) and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935).

1. CULTURE AND
PERSONALITY
Luqman Ahmed, PhD (1st Semester),
Department of Anthropology,
Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad

2. PsychologicalTypes in the Cultures
of the Southwest
Ruth Fulton Benedict (1887-1948)

3. Time & Space
■ Based on field work in Zuni, Cochiti and Pima in
Southwest
■ Two different ways of arriving at value of
existence
■ Divisions alongApollonian & Dionysian:The birth
of tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche, rooted in Greek
mythology

4. Position
■ Society chooses culture out of full range of human variability
■ Question: Why a society chooses one type of culture and how does it transfer to the next generation
■ Ahistorical despite a disciple of Boasian school of thought
■ Grounded in Psychological Anthropology but in contrast to Freud’s cultural evolution
■ Inspired by Cultural relativism by Franz Boas in response to western ethnocentracism
■ Cultures as integrated dominated by single dominant trend even the use of Hellucigenic drugs fits the
Apollonian world view
■ Cultures are hard to be explained; each culture has its own intricate patterns
■ Individuals needed society for their individuality and those societies needed individuals in order to survive,
adjust to crisis, and change (Modell 1983, commenting on Patterns of Culture)

5. Critique
■ Benedict offers no reasons for phenomenon observed among the Pueblos of Southwest
■ Critics point out distortions in the data by Benedict to portray Pueblos culture rational and
logical
■ For instance a dance done with live rattle snake is not ecstatic is a highly subjective
observation and a matter of interpretation
■ Examples are rather sensuous which depict the urge to reach out to the common reader
and now without its impact on wider audience,This also helped build the case of
acceptance of all cultures and tolerance the values she preached throughout her life.
■ She used first person instances which shows her view of anthropology as interpretive art

6. Introduction to Sex andTemperament in
Three Primitive Societies
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)

7. Time & Space
■ Mead was writing in exceptionally difficult situations.Women got the voting rights just
fifteen years before the publishing of article
■ Mead also struggle the issue of sexuality in her personal life hence it is important to
see the notions of homosexuality found in this article and in her other works in this
context.

8. Position
■ Emphasis on Cultural Relativism, further to Benedicts contention
■ Cultures emphasize certain issues or ignore these, like beauty, age and sex, so these are cultural
construction, rather than biologically determined
■ Mead takes strong position against Biological determinism based on the notion that differences between
men and women are also cultural, similar to variations in customs and beliefs between cultures
■ Mead shows the cultural relativism focusing on child rearing process during which people learn their culture
patterns
■ Mead is taking the position in feminism without claiming it, by attacking the common theories which put
claim women are inherently inferior to men
■ Mead argue that the gender stereotyping is detrimental for men as well
■ Mead also contends the popular view that if women are dominant, men will be submissive
■ Mead also contends Durkheim view of seeing things in sacred-profane or right–left like dichotomies. This
according to her, ignores all the possibilities in between

9. Critique
■ Major critique included the use of unscientific and impressionist approach used by
Mead in her various studies such as the coming of age in Samoa, a landmark book.
■ Academics also discounted on the basis that Anthropology was developing at the time
when Mead did the field work.