Margaret Mead was an American anthropologist best known for
her studies of the peoples of Oceania
. She also commented on a wide array of societal issues, such as women's rights, nuclear proliferation, race relations, environmental pollution, and world hunger.
Who is Margaret Mead and why was she important?
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an
American cultural anthropologist
who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard College in New York City and her MA and PhD degrees from Columbia University.
What did Margaret Mead discover?
In 1925, Margaret Mead journeyed to the South Pacific territory of American Samoa. She sought to discover
whether adolescence
was a universally traumatic and stressful time due to biological factors or whether the experience of adolescence depended on one's cultural upbringing.
What were the main findings of Margaret Mead's research?
Mead found a different pattern of male and female behavior in each of the cultures she
studied, all different from gender role expectations in the United States at that time. She found among the Arapesh a temperament for both males and females that was gentle, responsive, and cooperative.
What did Margaret Mead advocate for?
Mead was an outspoken advocate for
the right to die, access to birth control, and the repeal of anti-abortion laws
. Her work continues to influence feminism, sociology, and even religion.
What culture did Margaret Mead study?
Margaret Mead. As an anthropologist, Mead was best known for her studies of
the nonliterate peoples of Oceania
, especially with regard to various aspects of psychology and culture—the cultural conditioning of sexual behaviour, natural character, and culture change.
How does Margaret Mead define culture?
For instance, Margaret Mead has de- fined ‘culture' as follows: Culture
means human culture
, the complex whole of traditional behavior which. has been developed by the human race and is successively learned by each genera- tion. (
How did Margaret Mead prefer to learn about cultures?
The people there planted a coconut tree in her memory
. Margaret Mead would have liked that. As a young woman, she had studied the life and traditions of the village. Miz Mead received such honors because she added greatly to public knowledge of cultures and traditions in developing areas.
What was Margaret Mead criticized for?
Feminist pioneer Betty Friedan criticized Mead for “
reinforcing traditional stereotypes of women and limiting women's choices
,” he writes.
What did Mead say about gender roles?
Mead saw that, in the cultures she studied, male and female behaviors differed from one another, and differed from the gender roles in the US. She saw
that women were dominant in societies in the Tchambuli Lake region
with men less responsible and more emotionally dependent.
What is Margaret Mead's theory?
Mead's famous theory of imprinting found
that children learn by watching adult behavior
. A decade later, Mead qualified her nature vs. nurture stance somewhat in Male and Female (1949), in which she analyzed the ways in which motherhood serves to reinforce male and female roles in all societies.
What is the Mead vs Freeman controversy mainly about?
In 1983, Dr. Freeman charged that Dr. Mead's influential 1928 account, ”Coming of Age in Samoa,” was
mistaken and misleading in its depiction of uncomplicated sexual freedom there and that it had been shaped to support academic theory rather
than to report the realities of Pacific island society.
Why did Margaret Mead live in the 1930s?
Where did Margaret Mead live in 1930s to conduct a study of cultural variation?
The desire for an in-depth understanding of cultural variation
led Mead to live among the people of New Guinea and to participate in their activities. Two of the societies that Mead examined were the Arapesh and the Mundugumor.
Who Said Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world indeed it is the only thing that ever has?
Margaret Mead
once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” We are all a part of something larger than ourselves.
What was lacking in the study of culture and personality?
In accounting for the lack of uniformity in the study of Culture and Personality, Robert LeVine, in Culture, Behavior and Personality (1982) argues that
there are five different perspectives characterizing the field
. Perhaps the most recognizable view was used by Ruth Benedict, Margret Mead, and Geoffrey Gore.
Why is Franz Boas important?
Franz Boas is regarded as both the
“father of modern anthropology”
and the “father of American anthropology.” He was the first to apply the scientific method to anthropology, emphasizing a research- first method of generating theories.
