It is important to note that Margaret Mead can be considered one of the most influential anthropologists in history, who was able to bring a novel perspective on gender, sex, and social constructs. Her biggest contribution was in the field of social-cultural anthropology, and her ideas drove and continue to drive the sexual revolution of the modern day. Her work titled Coming of Age in Samoa redefined what constitutes gender, gender roles, and attitudes towards sex in Western civilization.
Margaret Mead’s biography is an example of an interesting journey of a person coming from a psychology background transitioning into anthropology. She was born in 1901 to an academic Pennsylvanian family, and her desire to pursue anthropology as a field of interest manifested while she was studying at Barnard College in NYC (Botton par. 2). During her graduate years, Franz Boas became her mentor in Columbia University in the years of 1920s (Botton par. 3). Boas can be considered a father of anthropology, which is why Mead’s future success was partly due to his influence and mentorship. In 1925, she conducted her fieldwork on Samoan islands to study the local people, which was the moment when she began to develop her key ideas and theories (Botton par. 4). Her professional life was based on expanding the theories she obtained from Samoan tribes, and she died in 1978 due to pancreatic cancer (Botton par. 4). Thus, Margaret Mead’s biography was an extensive and influential academic journey of discoveries and observations.
Margaret Mead contributed the most to the field of social-cultural anthropology since her ideas were on gender, gender roles, and attitudes toward sex. Her most monumental contribution was on gender roles, which she described as being socially constructed since different cultures tend to have varying societal expectations from each gender (Dresser par. 13). In other words, the Western perspective on what constitutes masculinity and femininity was not a sole cultural framework. Some cultures had commonly masculine expectations assigned to both men and women; whereas others wanted both genders to be more feminine according to Western standards (Dresser par. 15). Throughout her life, Mead provided a valuable criticism of her own culture and its expectations on gender roles.
Margaret Mead’s contribution to gender roles fundamentally changed anthropology by showcasing that the gender role of any single culture develops gradually, and there is no unified biological basis for the prescribed traits or roles. For example, she stated that the Western model of human sexual behavior pressures children and teenagers to conform to the framework’s expectations of gender roles (CITE2). However, she advocated that there is no basis for the existing definition of being a man or a woman. She promoted the idea that Western culture needs to learn from other cultures to create a healthy and liberated environment where people can explore their sexualities, gender roles, and attitudes toward sex. In other words, the current perspectives of modern feminism and the LGBTQIA2S+ community are based on Mead’s contributions.
In conclusion, Margaret Mead was among the most influential anthropologists in history in regard to what constitutes gender, gender roles, and attitudes toward sex in Western civilization. Her biggest contribution was in the field of social-cultural anthropology, and her ideas drove and continue to drive the sexual revolution of the modern day. She was able to bring a novel perspective on gender, sex, and social constructs.
Works Cited
Botton, A. D. “Margaret Mead.” Medieval Fragments, 2022, Web.
Dresser, S. “The meaning of Margaret Mead.” Aeon, 2020, Web.