when we use the word modern to describe
something
it's usually a positive we're very
appreciative and even a little smug
about the miracles of
modern science modern technology and
even the superiority of
modern viewpoints but what if in
speeding towards a new and ever better
future
we've left some important truths about
ourselves behind
one of the people who best helps us to
explore this problem is margaret mead
perhaps the most famous anthropologist
in the world
margaret mead was born in the usa in
1901 the oldest of five children
her father was a professor of finance
and her mother was a sociologist
after studying psychology as an
undergraduate mead began a phd
in the relatively new field of
anthropology
her supervisor franz boaz was the
founder of the discipline in the united
states
unlike earlier anthropologists who'd
imagined that civilization was
progressing in a linear fashion
from barbarism to savagery to
civilization
boaz argued that the world was teeming
with separate cultures
each with their own unique perspectives
insights and deficiencies
the modern western world was not the
pinnacle of human achievement
but simply one specific example of what
humans could get up to
boaz suggested that mead travel for her
field work to samoa
a few tiny volcanic tropical islands in
the centre of the pacific ocean
mead was particularly interested in
primitive communities because she
believed that such isolated cultures
could serve as laboratories that would
reveal ways of living that the modern
world had forgotten about
but needed to remember starting in 1925
and lasting until the beginning of the
second world war mead lived in samoa in
a highly authentic way for long periods
she learnt the languages dressed like a
local and even carried babies around by
having them cling to her neck
mead became fascinated by samoan
attitudes to sex
in particular in the book that made her
name coming of age in samoa
published in 1928 mead described samoan
culture
as far more open and comfortable with
sex than the modern united states
little children in samoa knew all about
masturbation and learned about
intercourse and other acts
through first-hand observation but
thought of it as no more scandalous or
worthy of comment than death or birth
homosexuality was incidental but also
not a matter of shame
and people's orientations fluctuated
naturally throughout their lives
without defining them this intrigued and
inspired mead
who herself led rather unconventional
life simultaneously involved with
successive husbands
and an ever-present female lover another
famous anthropologist called ruth
benedict
mead argued that the samoan approach to
sex made adolescence
far easier for girls there because there
was little pressure for them to conform
to particular kinds of sexuality
they were neither pressured to abstain
from sex nor to achieve particular
milestones like having boyfriends or
getting married
gradually mead got interested in gender
roles and discovered that modern
societies are far more rigid in this
area than primitive ones
for example americans tend to think of
men as productive
sensible and aggressive while women are
often told that they're more frivolous
peaceful and nurturing but in her 1935
book
sex and temperament in three primitive
societies
mead studied tribes in papua new guinea
and recorded that in the arabesh tribe
both men and women were peaceful and
nurturing while among the mundagamore
tribe men
and women were both ruthless and
aggressive in short me suggested that no
gender traits are ever simply
human nature they're all instead simply
possibilities which are either taught
encouraged or shunned by any given
culture
mead's striking conclusion is that it
isn't gender that makes women curl their
hair
or listen to people's feelings or race
that makes some nations regularly attack
their neighbors
rather it's the social expectations and
norms that have developed slowly over
centuries
and which have laid the groundwork for
each individual psychological makeup
we must recognize she reminded her
readers that beneath the superficial
classifications of sex and race
the same potentialities always exist
recurring generation after generation
only to perish because society has no
place for them
mead herself learned so much from her
anthropological subjects
she brought up her daughter according to
some of the parenting ideas of the
primitive people she worked
with like breastfeeding on demand which
she helped to popularize in modern day
america
during world war ii access to the south
pacific was impossible
so mead began to study more complex
cultures like her own
after the war mead worked for the u.s
military studying russian responses to
authority
in order to try to predict what the
soviets might do during the cold war
she grew increasingly famous traveling
widely giving lectures and teaching at
universities
for 50 years from 1928 until her death
in 1978
she worked on and off for the american
museum of natural history in new york
city
as a curator for their special projects
she wrote 20 books in all and was
awarded 28 honorary degrees
mede's work helps us to use the
experiences of other nations and people
as a storehouse of good ideas as the
traveler
who has once been from home is wiser
than he who's never left his own
doorstep
she suggested so a knowledge of another
culture will always
sharpen our ability to scrutinize our
own more steadily
in doing so she suggested we will always
uncover
and support undeveloped human potential
forgotten
in our rush towards modernity
how to think more effectively is a book
about how to optimize our minds
so that they can more regularly and
generously produce the sort of
insights and ideas we need to fulfill
our potential
and achieve the contentment we deserve