Richard Allan Shweder (born 1945) is an American

cultural anthropologist Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portman ...

and a figure in

cultural psychology Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members.Heine, S. J. (2011). ''Cultural Psychology. ''New York: W. W. Norton & Company. It is based on the premise that mind and culture are i ...

. He is currently Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Human Development in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

."Richard Shweder"
, Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago. He is the author of ''Thinking Through Cultures: Expeditions in Cultural Psychology'' (1991) and ''Why Do Men Barbecue? Recipes for Cultural Psychology'' (2003).

Education and career

Shweder received his B.A. in anthropology from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in 1966 and his Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University's department of social relations in 1972. He taught at the University of Nairobi in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, for one year. He has been a faculty member at the University of Chicago since 1973.

Research

Shweder's main fieldwork outside the United States has been in the temple town of

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

in the state of

Orissa, India Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. Among other topics, his fieldwork in India has looked at cross-cultural concepts of the person, self, emotions, and moral reasoning. His work in moral psychology included proposing the Community / Autonomy / Divinity triad of moral concerns, a line of research continued by Shweder's former student Lene Arnett Jensen, and which also served as one of the inspirations for

Moral Foundations Theory Moral foundations theory is a social psychological theory intended to explain the origins of and variation in human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, modular foundations. It was first proposed by the psychologists Jonathan Haidt, Craig Josep ...

, proposed by two of Shweder's former students

Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business. His main areas of study are the psychology of ...

and Craig Joseph. He has also published extensively on matters relevant to the "

culture wars A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...

" debates in cultural studies in the United States, and has advocated forms of

cultural pluralism Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, whereby their values and practices are accepted by the dominant culture, provided such are consistent with the laws and valu ...

while being mindful of the practical and ethical difficulties certain kinds of pluralism entail. He chaired a joint Russell Sage Foundation / Social Science Research Council Working Group on "Ethnic Customs, Assimilation, and American Law" (renamed as, "Law and Culture"), concerned with the issue of the "Free exercise of culture: How Free Is It? How Free Ought It To Be?" He also has commented upon military uses of anthropology for counterinsurgency and other purposes outside of the United States. He is a past president of the Society for Psychological Anthropology. Shweder was the winner of the 1982

AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

,History & Archives: AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research
/ref> and the recipient of academic awards and research grants.

Selected publications

* Shweder, Richard A., and Robert A. Levine, editors. (1984) ''Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self and Emotion''. New York: Cambridge University Press. * Shweder, Richard A., and D.W. Fiske, editors. (1986) ''Metatheory in Social Science: Pluralisms and Subjectivities''. Chicago:

The University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

. * (See also chapter 8 in ''Thinking through cultures'', which is substantially the same text with minor amendments). * * * Jessor, Richard, Anne Colby, and Richard Shweder, editors. (1996) ''Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry''. Chicago:

. * * * Shweder, Richard A.,

Martha Minow Martha Louise Minow (born December 6, 1954) is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She served as the Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law School sin ...

, and Hazel Markus, editors. (2002) ''Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies''. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press. * Shweder, Richard A., "Why do Men Barbecue?" (2002). * * Shweder, Richard A. 2007. “A True Culture War.” The New York Times 10/27/07. * Shweder, Richard A., editor, (2009) ''The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion''. Chicago:

References

External links

Faculty Profile: Richard A. Shweder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shweder, Richard University of Chicago faculty Harvard University alumni American anthropologists Psychological anthropologists Living people 1945 births Female genital mutilation Cultural psychologists Moral psychologists