Why read Why Do Men Barbecue? Recipes for Cultural Psychology?

Book cover of Why Do Men Barbecue? Recipes for Cultural Psychology

Book description

Why do American children sleep alone instead of with their parents? Why do middle-aged Western women yearn for their youth, while young wives in India look forward to being middle-aged? In these provocative essays, one of the most brilliant advocates of cultural psychology reminds us that cultural differences in mental…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Why Do Men Barbecue? Recipes for Cultural Psychology as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Elizabeth Maggie Penn

Author

Much of what we do in the social sciences requires articulating what it is that people want. What do people find beautiful, valuable, and correct? A cultural anthropologist, Shweder details the remarkable differences in how humans make meaning of their lives, and the different conceptions of morality, modesty, and normality found in different cultures. The book's most provocative chapter, "What About Female Genital Mutilation?," can be read as a qualified defense of the practice, arguing that using state coercion to enforce our own Western conceptions of correctness can constitute a form of liberal imperialism. Regardless of whether you find Shweder's…

From Elizabeth's list on The best social science books to explain how people shape, and are shaped by, their communities.