Transcript The Problem with Margaret

Critiques of the work of Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
Coming of Age in Samoa 1928
Orans’ Conclusions
 Mead did not bother to clearly define the problem
or the elements of the problem.
 She undertook no study of adolescent/parental
relations in the US by which she could make a
comparison.
 Mead never did master Samoan, so she was largely
restricted to informants that could speak English.
 Her sample of informants was small and
haphazardly chosen (“grab bag”).
 She relied on self-reporting or gossip. Made no
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effort at independent verification.
She made sweeping generalizations about Samoan
sexuality and culture on the basis of the testimony
of a single informant, or on no data.
Like Ruth Benedict, Mead stereotyped Samoan
culture, ignoring recent Samoan history.
Her work was polemical, not scientific. She made
“lawyer’s arguments”. “Profoundly unscientific.”
Her arguments were contradicted by her own data.