Ruth Benedict

Ruth Benedict (née Fulton) (June 6, 1887 – September 17, 1948) was an American anthropologist.

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Her war work included a major study, largely completed in 1944, aimed at understanding, for instance, Japanese incomprehension of things Americans considered quite natural: these included American POWs' wanting their families to know they were alive, and conquered Asian peoples' neither treating the Japanese as their liberators from Western colonialism, nor accepting their supposedly obviously just place in a hierarchy that had Japanese at the top. She played a major role in studying the role in society of the Emperor of Japan, and formulating the recommendation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that permitting continuation of the Emperor's reign be part of the eventual surrender offer.

Related Topics:
1944 - Americans - POW - Emperor of Japan - Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Benedict is best known for her book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, the study of the society and culture of Japan that she published in 1946, incorporating results of her war-time research.

Related Topics:
Japan - 1946

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While some regard this book as "long since ... discredited since Benedict had no direct experience in Japan" and describe it as "considered shallow and overtly racist", it is still generally regarded as a classic whose value continues even despite the post-war changes in Japanese culture.

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