diff --git a/docs/topics/release-notes.md b/docs/topics/release-notes.md
index d5f060e7a..4317b83c0 100644
--- a/docs/topics/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/topics/release-notes.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ You can determine your currently installed version using `pip freeze`:
 ### Master
 
 * Added a `post_save()` hook to the generic views.
+* Allow serializers to handle dicts as well as objects.
 * Bugfix: Fix styling on browsable API login.
 * Bugfix: Fix issue with deserializing empty to-many relations.
 * Bugfix: Ensure model field validation is still applied for ModelSerializer subclasses with an custom `.restore_object()` method.
diff --git a/rest_framework/fields.py b/rest_framework/fields.py
index 2c3e59b58..aa6fa3abc 100644
--- a/rest_framework/fields.py
+++ b/rest_framework/fields.py
@@ -30,6 +30,21 @@ def is_simple_callable(obj):
     )
 
 
+def get_component(obj, attr_name):
+    """
+    Given an object, and an attribute name,
+    return that attribute on the object.
+    """
+    if isinstance(obj, dict):
+        val = obj[attr_name]
+    else:
+        val = getattr(obj, attr_name)
+
+    if is_simple_callable(val):
+        return val()
+    return val
+
+
 class Field(object):
     read_only = True
     creation_counter = 0
@@ -82,11 +97,9 @@ class Field(object):
         if self.source:
             value = obj
             for component in self.source.split('.'):
-                value = getattr(value, component)
-                if is_simple_callable(value):
-                    value = value()
+                value = get_component(value, component)
         else:
-            value = getattr(obj, field_name)
+            value = get_component(obj, field_name)
         return self.to_native(value)
 
     def to_native(self, value):
diff --git a/rest_framework/serializers.py b/rest_framework/serializers.py
index 7daeac417..a6dbf5d77 100644
--- a/rest_framework/serializers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/serializers.py
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ class BaseSerializer(Field):
         if self.many is not None:
             many = self.many
         else:
-            many = hasattr(obj, '__iter__') and not isinstance(obj, Page)
+            many = hasattr(obj, '__iter__') and not isinstance(obj, (Page, dict))
 
         if many:
             return [self.to_native(item) for item in obj]
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ class BaseSerializer(Field):
             if self.many is not None:
                 many = self.many
             else:
-                many = hasattr(data, '__iter__') and not isinstance(data, dict)
+                many = hasattr(data, '__iter__') and not isinstance(data, (Page, dict))
 
             # TODO: error data when deserializing lists
             if many:
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ class BaseSerializer(Field):
             if self.many is not None:
                 many = self.many
             else:
-                many = hasattr(obj, '__iter__') and not isinstance(obj, Page)
+                many = hasattr(obj, '__iter__') and not isinstance(obj, (Page, dict))
 
             if many:
                 self._data = [self.to_native(item) for item in obj]
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/serializer.py b/rest_framework/tests/serializer.py
index 62de16abb..2d17e99df 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/serializer.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/serializer.py
@@ -185,6 +185,33 @@ class BasicTests(TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(instance.age, self.person_data['age'])
 
 
+class DictStyleSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
+    """
+    Note that we don't have any `restore_object` method, so the default
+    case of simply returning a dict will apply.
+    """
+    email = serializers.EmailField()
+
+
+class DictStyleSerializerTests(TestCase):
+    def test_dict_style_deserialize(self):
+        """
+        Ensure serializers can deserialize into a dict.
+        """
+        data = {'email': 'foo@example.com'}
+        serializer = DictStyleSerializer(data=data)
+        self.assertTrue(serializer.is_valid())
+        self.assertEquals(serializer.data, data)
+
+    def test_dict_style_serialize(self):
+        """
+        Ensure serializers can serialize dict objects.
+        """
+        data = {'email': 'foo@example.com'}
+        serializer = DictStyleSerializer(data)
+        self.assertEquals(serializer.data, data)
+
+
 class ValidationTests(TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.comment = Comment(