*Do you agree with anthropologist Ruth Benedict that we are "creatures of our culture" and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture? If so, how can we break through the limits of our culture?
Yes, I would have to agree with Ruth Benedict's statement that "we are creatures of our culture and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture". It is very true that that majority of what we learn on how to act and carry out the basic functions of life come from observed patterns in direct family and in society as a whole. Now, this is not to say that being born a human dooms you to be nothing more than a mimic. On the contrary, many do have the option of rebelling against cultural norms and sets. This decision to rebel and the ways in which the rebellion are carried out, however, often are rooted in the cultural norms and sets which are being rebelled against. For example (and a very loose one) a society may promote the color white as ritual garb. One who wishes to rebel may choose the opposite, black, but this choice is rooted in the cultural norm and set of white. Now we may choose to conform and rebel in ways which do not fit within Benedict's model and statement...but when culture is looked at as a whole it seems that Benedict's statement rings more true despite the various probabilities of will.
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