SOURCE: "From Irrationality to Utility in Cultural Integration: Ruth Benedict," in Theories of Man and Culture, Columbia University Press, 1973, pp. 75-91.

Hatch is an American anthropologist. In the following essay, he analyzes Benedict's view of the relationship between individuals and their culture.

Victor Barnouw, one of Benedict's graduate students at Columbia, describes the impression she made on him then. "Like most of Ruth Benedict's students, I looked up to her with a mixture of veneration and bewilderment." He speaks of her "silvery aura of prestige, dignity, and charm." This aura was partially due to her remoteness. She was hard of hearing, shy, and frequently melancholy, and consequently she tended to remain aloof from people. But she was also a remarkably generous person, for she gave freely of both her time and money to friends and students who were in need.

Benedict was born in New York City in...