Study of Child and Adolescent Development in Western Samoa

Researchers who believe that behavior is potently determined by biological referents, whether directly observed or inferred, have criticized Mead for overlooking the influence of internal stress as a motivator of behavior. As proof of their claim, they cite the some current instances of teen suicide and crime on the islands that Mead implant so peaceful. Theorists oriented toward biological determinist positions thought that Mead was slur to the competitiveness found in all societies--even in her idyllic Samoan village.

In light of present studies critical of Mead, such as those done by the New Zealand anthropologist Derek Freeman, it must be remembered that Mead had to invent her investigative strategies as she went along, since procedures and guidelines did not yet exist. In her grant proposal she wrote that she hoped to "add appreciably to our ethnological selective information on the subject of the culture of primitive women. Owing to the dearth of women ethnologists, practically no ethnological [work] has been done among women as such, and this investigation offers a particularly rich line of merchandise for the study of fe anthropoid reactions and participation in the study of the group."

Mead's perspective was that of a cleaning woman writing about women; however, she also studied the behavior of male children and adolescents. Because she was limited to non-intimate settings when observing the males, she had to rely more on field observations of their work and play.

Ultimately, it was the maiden's ambition to bind in one's own village, after having as many lovers as possible. When young women desired to be married, they joined an institution called the "aualuma." The "aualuma" was an ingenuous institution which a young bride-to-be would be elevated to represent. The young woman could "aspire into" the "aualuma," in a pattern of female rite of passage. Cote cites the 1987 work of Meleisea who observed the importance of the economic and social role played by the young women of the "aualuma": "The 'aualuma' delineated the honour of the 'nu'u' [village], for example when a 'nu'u' or a district went to war, a high-ranking maiden would march at the indicate of the party.

Also, when 'melaga' (visiting parties) came to the 'nu'u,' the 'aualuma' would decorate the guest houses of the nu'u' and see to the reception and entertainment of the guests."

The interactionist assure taken by most theoreticians in the social and mental sciences today is the most workable stance, yet the nature versus value (biology versus culture, or environment) controversy continues unabated, because there always remains the foreland of how oftentimes influence is generated by each aspect of genetic endowment or environment. Before Freeman published his refutation of much of Mead's work in 1983 (five years after Mead had died), the New York times ran a story on page one, beginning with the lines, "a book maintaining that the anthropologist Margaret Mead seriously misrepresented the culture and character of Samoa has ignited heated discussion within the behavioral sciences."

As a preface to later discussions about child development, it is important to office that Mead considered the Samoans to be sexual experts at an early age. She attributed the Samoans' freedom from neuroses to be one result of such permissiveness. Howard writes in her biography that Mead " knowledgeable all she could in conversations which persuaded her that Samoans were so familiar with sex, and
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.