VAID'S ICS – Best UPSC Anthropology Coaching in Delhi Since 1985

Comprehensive Classroom Course · Admissions openRegister now
+91 93113 37737
  • +91-93113 37737, +91-99999 46748
  • 73(FF), Old Rajender Nagar Market, Delhi - 110060
  • MON to SUN 9.00 am - 6.00 pm
Facebook Youtube Instagram
Menu
Enquire Now
Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2018/Paper I/Anthropological Theories
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper I 2018 15 Marks Model Answer Available

National Character Study — 2018 Paper I

Question · 2018 · Paper I · 15 Marks

What do you understand by the National Character Study ? Illustrate the concept.

Model Answer

VAID ICS

Approach

  • Demand of Question: Explain National Character Study as an approach within culture-and-personality anthropology and illustrate it through a classic ethnographic example.
  • Structuring the Response: Define the concept, explain its theoretical and methodological basis, illustrate through Benedict’s study of Japan, and critically evaluate it.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover: Culture and Personality, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, modal personality, culture at a distance, Japan, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword and criticism.

Model Answer

Introduction: National Character Study emerged largely within the Culture and Personality school of anthropology. It sought to identify recurrent personality orientations, values and behavioural patterns considered characteristic of members of a particular national society.

The basic assumption was:

Common cultural institutions + Similar socialization → Recurrent personality tendencies → National character

Theoretical background

National character studies were influenced by anthropologists such as:

  • Ruth Benedict;
  • Margaret Mead;
  • Geoffrey Gorer;
  • Clyde Kluckhohn.

They attempted to connect:

  • child-rearing;
  • family organization;
  • values;
  • political behaviour;
  • personality.

National character did not necessarily imply that every individual was identical; rather, it referred to a dominant or modal cultural pattern.

Development during World War II

National character studies became especially important during the Second World War when direct fieldwork in enemy countries was difficult.

Anthropologists therefore used “culture at a distance” methods based on:

  • literature;
  • films;
  • newspapers;
  • historical documents;
  • interviews with migrants and expatriates.

Illustration: Ruth Benedict’s study of Japan

The classic example is Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946).

Without conducting conventional fieldwork in wartime Japan, Benedict analysed Japanese culture through secondary materials and interviews.

She emphasized themes such as:

  • hierarchy;
  • obligation;
  • reciprocity;
  • disciplined behaviour;
  • concern with social approval;
  • concepts of honour and duty.

She distinguished Japanese cultural orientation as strongly influenced by what she termed a “shame culture”, in contrast to the greater emphasis on internalized guilt that she associated with American culture.

Thus:

Child socialization + Hierarchy + Obligation → Recurrent cultural personality pattern

The title itself—chrysanthemum and sword—symbolized what Benedict interpreted as the coexistence of aesthetic refinement and disciplined martial values.

Other applications

National character approaches were also used to study:

  • American personality;
  • Russian culture;
  • German society;
  • other wartime and post-war national populations.

Contributions

National Character Study helped anthropology:

  1. connect personality with cultural institutions;
  2. apply anthropology to contemporary complex societies;
  3. demonstrate that political behaviour has cultural dimensions;
  4. develop techniques for studying societies where direct fieldwork was impossible.

Criticisms

  1. Overgeneralization: Nations contain enormous variation by:
  • class;
  • gender;
  • ethnicity;
  • region;
  • religion.
  1. Stereotyping: Cultural tendencies may be transformed into fixed national stereotypes.
  2. Methodological weakness: “Culture at a distance” lacks prolonged participant observation.
  3. Historical change: National societies are dynamic; no single character pattern remains permanently valid.
  4. Homogeneity assumption: The approach sometimes exaggerates consensus and underestimates internal conflict.

Contemporary relevance

Modern anthropology therefore prefers concepts such as:

  • cultural models;
  • identity;
  • habitus;
  • political culture

rather than treating nations as possessing fixed psychological personalities.

Conclusion

National Character Study was an important extension of Culture and Personality anthropology, seeking to relate shared cultural patterns to recurrent personality orientations. Benedict’s analysis of Japan remains its classic illustration, but contemporary anthropology treats national character cautiously because national populations are internally diverse, historically changing and politically contested.

2026 How is the theory of structuralism helpful in understanding the concepts of caste and gender? 2026 Critically discuss how culture determines human behaviour in the light of Leslie White's theory. 2026 Compare Edmund Leach's structuralism with interpretive anthropology of Clifford Geertz. 2026 Discuss, with appropriate examples, how basic personality types may lead towards building up of national character.

Want feedback on your answer?

Join the Anthropology workshop or get structured answer-writing guidance from VAID ICS.

Join Workshop Contact VAID ICS

UPSC Anthropology Optional 2018 — Paper I

28 questions

5(b) Advanced Molecular Anthropology Techniques

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.1 Human Genetics: Methods and Application > D.N.A. technology and recombinant technologies
2018Paper IHuman Genetics & Human BiologyModel answer available

1(d) Kinship Terminology

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.5 Kinship > Kinship terminology
2018Paper IKinshipModel answer available

1(a) The Relevance of Anthropology

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.1 Meaning, Scope and Development of Anthropology > Relevance of Anthropology
2018Paper IFoundations of AnthropologyModel answer available

1(c) Town Planning of Harappan Culture

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Chalcolithic and Harappan
2018Paper IPrehistoric ArchaeologyModel answer available