Chapter 4 Opening to the World Summary and Analysis

Mary Catherine Bateson opens Chapter 4, Opening to the World, by discussing a worldwide evolution. Humans tend to believe the norms of our own societies are the most natural. We took a giant step forward when we learned to recognize other cultures as also being part of humanity, even if they are different from our own. Mary Catherine Bateson believes that the next step—one that we have not yet completed is to recognize the values in different societies and change our own habits to incorporate valuable information we have learned from those outside of our own communities.

She then uses her own experience and the experiences of her four friends as examples to describe what it's like to live within a foreign culture and how important it is to respect different societies...