Ruth Benedict

June 5, 1887 - September 17, 1948

Biography

Ruth Benedict was born and raised in New York, she grew up with a fascination for reading and writing. Eventually, she began searching for careers available to her, such as teaching and social work. Benedict did not like either of these jobs, she wanted to have a career not traditionally available to women at the time (Zorn 1974). After graduating with a bachelor's degree from Vassar College and a PhD from Columbia University, she began her career as an anthropologist at the age of 34 (CJ 2009). Benedict spent most of her time studying in the library, as her partial deafness made it difficult for her to interpret languages and sounds.

In her first book, Patterns of Culture, Benedict redefined the meaning of anthropology. The first sentence states that "anthropology is the study of human beings as creatures of society" (Benedict 1). Her work transformed the anthropology, as it sparked the study of culture and personality within the field. Prior to Patterns of Culture, many anthropologists believe that traits in cultures were random and could be used to determine civility. Patterns of Culture changed anthropology in that anthropologists began looking at environments, hereditary traits, and other possibilities that could influence cultures. Most importantly, anthropology took a less ethnocentric view as anthropologists began valuing the belief of cultural relativism (Antrosio 2013). This was published during the time period where anthropology was mostly following th British Functionalist approach, and her way of studying did align with that approach. Patterns of Culture is considered one of the major works of the intellectual history of the 1900s, “It marked a turning point in American culture between what we think of today as 19th and 20th-century ideas" (Benedict, National Women's Hall of Fame).

One of her later books, Race: Science and Politics helped refute the idea of racial superiority (National Women's Hall of Fame 2005). After being published in 1940, it quickly became popular in academia and helped inspire the idea of racial equality, especially in the United States. Benedict also taught future anthropologists at Columbia University, one of which was Margaret Mead, who explained that culture was not inherited (Zorn 1974). Despite her partial deafness, Benedict did do some field work during her career, most notably with the Serrano, Zuni, Pima people. Benedict died in 1948, her ideas have forever changed how we view anthropology, and the people and cultures of the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/17/archives/ruth-benedict-no-lady-anthropologist.html

https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/ruth-fulton-benedict/

https://www.livinganthropologically.com/ruth-benedict-culture/

http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/ruth-benedict.html

Learn More

Virginia Wolf Briscoe - The Journal of American Folklore https://www.jstor.org/stable/540511?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Rebecca Maksel - Love Among Anthropologists https://www.jstor.org/stable/4024373?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Ruth Benedict, Gene Weltfish - The Races of Mankind https://archive.org/details/TheRacesOfMankind

Works Cited

Antrosio, Jason (2013) The Concept of Culture, Living Anthropologically, Oneonta

Benedict, Ruth and Weltfish, Gene (1946) The Races of Mankind, Public Affairs Committee, Washington D.C.

Benedict, Ruth Fulton. National Women's Hall of Fame, www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/ruth-fulton-benedict/.

CJ (2009) Ruth Benedict, Vassar Encyclopedia, Poughkeepsie

Maksel, Rebecca (2004) Love Among Anthropologists, Old City Publishing Inc., Philadelphia

National Women's Hall of Fame (2005) Ruth Fulton Benedict, National Women's Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls

Wolf Briscoe, Virginia (1979) The Journal of American Folklore, American Folklore Society, Philadelphia

Zorn, Jean (1974) Ruth. Benedict, New York Times, New York City