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 term s ...

and a figure in

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

. 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, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, 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 Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 1966 and his Ph.D. in

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

from Harvard University's department of social relations in 1972. He taught at the University of Nairobi in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

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

Research

Shweder's main

fieldwork Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...

outside the United States has been in the temple town of

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

in the state of

Orissa, India Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thi ...

. 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 Moral psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between th ...

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 Jose ...

, 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 the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt's main areas of study are the psyc ...

and Craig Joseph. He has also published extensively on matters relevant to the " culture wars" debates in

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

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 value ...

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,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 university press of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It publishes a wide range ...

. * (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 12th Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law Schoo ...

, 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 Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

?" (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 American moral psychologists