Why Do Men Barbecue?

Why do American children sleep alone instead of with their parents? Why do middle-aged Western women yearn for their youth, while young wives in India look forward to being middle-aged? In these provocative essays, one of the most brilliant advocates of cultural psychology reminds us that cultural differences in mental life lie at the heart of any understanding of the human condition.

Drawing on ethnographic studies of the distinctive modes of psychological functioning in communities around the world, Richard Shweder explores ethnic and cultural differences in ideals of gender, in the life of the emotions, in conceptions of mature adulthood and the stages of life, and in moral judgments about right and wrong.

Shweder, a cultural pluralist, dares readers to broaden their own conceptions of what is good, true, beautiful, and efficient and to take a closer look at specific cultural practices—parent/child cosleeping, arranged marriage, male and female genital modifications—that we may initially find alien or disturbing. He invites us to reject both radical relativism (the view that whatever is, is okay) and imperial visions of universal progressive cultural development (for example, the idea that "the West is Best") and to engage in more deeply informed cultural critique.

The knowable world, Shweder observes, is incomplete if seen from any one point of view, incoherent if seen from all points of view at once, and empty if seen from nowhere in particular. This work strives for the "view from manywheres" in a culturally diverse yet interdependent world.

Why do American children sleep alone instead of with their parents? Why do middle-aged Western women yearn for their youth, while young wives in India look forward to being middle-aged? In these provocative essays, one of the most brilliant advocates of cultural psychology reminds us that cultural differences in mental life lie at the heart of any understanding of the human condition.

Drawing on ethnographic studies of the distinctive modes of psychological functioning in communities around the world, Richard Shweder explores ethnic and cultural differences in ideals of gender, in the life of the emotions, in conceptions of mature adulthood and the stages of life, and in moral judgments about right and wrong.

Shweder, a cultural pluralist, dares readers to broaden their own conceptions of what is good, true, beautiful, and efficient and to take a closer look at specific cultural practices—parent/child cosleeping, arranged marriage, male and female genital modifications—that we may initially find alien or disturbing. He invites us to reject both radical relativism (the view that whatever is, is okay) and imperial visions of universal progressive cultural development (for example, the idea that "the West is Best") and to engage in more deeply informed cultural critique.

The knowable world, Shweder observes, is incomplete if seen from any one point of view, incoherent if seen from all points of view at once, and empty if seen from nowhere in particular. This work strives for the "view from manywheres" in a culturally diverse yet interdependent world.

Publishers Weekly

Cultural anthropologist and University of Chicago professor Shweder's "recipes" are lucid, timely investigations of suffering, the domestic life of Hindu women, the sleeping arrangements parents of different nationalities and classes institute with their children, and female genital mutilation-to name a few. Pillorying the "secular theodicy" of victimization, Shweder (and, in this particular essay, his co-authors Nancy C. Much, Manamohan Mahapatra and Lawrence Park) argues that those who suffer are not inherent victims. An expert on the cultural life of South Asian villages and towns, Shweder (Thinking Through Cultures) applies the doctrine of "karmic consequences" to current public health policy in the U.S., addressing the idea of a "sin tax" such as smokers experience. The American bent towards autonomy often doesn't jibe with the needs of the community, but Shweder persuasively asserts that "as we search around for postmodern ways to rethink our responsibilities to society and nature, it would not be surprising if we began to acknowledge the intuitive appeal of ideas such as sacred self, sacred world, karma, duty, pollution, and sin." In "Fundamentalism for Highbrows: The Aims of Education Address at the University of Chicago," he admits that the notion of an open mind is hard to define but cogently sets out his exacting "principles." Though Shweder is a vital essayist whose ear is tuned to cultural currents, the essays that cover anthropological issues may fail to interest general readers. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Richard A. Shweder, a cultural anthropologist, is the William Claude Reavis Professor of Human Development, University of Chicago.