Summary Of Ruth Benedict's View Of Human Nature

Ruth Benedict offers the readers various examples about her viewpoint of human nature. One of Benedict’s statement is “His culture provides the raw material of which the individual makes his life,” (Benedict 113). She believes that culture builds up the individual’s nature and lead the pathway of individual’s lifestyle depends on how much “raw material” the society “provides” it. As for example, culture is made to affect an individual’s life and influence them as they live under that culture. In other words, people are influenced and develop under traditions, general manners, what clothes they wear, what food they eat, and much more for what culture can offer. Benedict goes on and states “Most people are shaped to the form of their culture
because of the enormous malleability of their original endowment. They are plastic moulding force of the society into which they are born.” (Benedict, 115) This explains that culture is able to decide everything in individual’s lifestyle such as beliefs in individual’s lives, interests, and personality. I agree with Benedict on this because culture creates individual’s mindset as they are being influenced by what culture “provides”. For example, children in South Korea learn to respect elders while they grow up; but in American culture, they are taught to value women and children more. They learn what seems to be appropriate for themselves as they get “taught” by the culture to make certain actions.