The Social Climate During Margaret Mead Cross Cultural Study
Lativia Harris
Thomas University

The Social Climate During Margaret Mead Cross Cultural Study
Margaret Mead was Anthropologist who educated and devoted her life to studying the human behavior of various cultures during the 1920’s. Mead work shed a light on different cultural norms and the difficulties of being apart of that culture. One of Mead most notable works and best seller was Coming of Age in Samoa., she published in 1928 after staying in Samon from 1925-1926 to research sexual behavior. Mead, research brought a social consciousness to the world during a time when it was difficult. For instance, during the decade of Mead field work there were many events taking place: The manufacture of cars, Harlem Renaissance begins (jazz and ragtime music), fashions, flappers (a term used to describe young girls), movie stars, sex symbols in movies and novels, prohibition begins in the United States, women granted the right to vote in the United States fashion and music and Sigmund Freud work on sex series. 1920’s has often been referred to as the “Roaring Twenties” during this time the United States were discovering what it was like to be one of the world ‘s wealthiest country. The 1920’s had a new influences on peoples' lifestyles that change the culture of the 1920’s. According to an article by Jennifer Roseenberg (n.d.), a 20th century history expert states the following:
In the 1920s, a new woman was born. She smoked, drank, danced, and voted. She cut her hair, wore make-up, and went to petting parties. She was giddy and took risks. She was a flapper. Nearly every article of clothing was trimmed down and lightened in order to make movement easier. The new, energetic dances of the Jazz Age, required women to be able to move freely. The 1920s was the Jazz Age and one of the most popular pastimes

for flappers were dancing. Flappers also started wearing make-up, something that had previously been only worn by loose women. Rouge, powder, eyeliner, and lipstick became extremely popular. The flapper attitude was characterized by stark truthfulness, fast living, and sexual behavior. Flappers seemed to cling to youth as if it were to leave them at any moment. They took risks and were reckless. They wanted to be different, so they smoked. Something only men had done previously. Their parents were shocked. Smoking wasn't the most outrageous of the flapper's rebellious actions. Flappers drank alcohol. At a time when the United States had outlawed alcohol (Prohibition), young women were starting the habit early.
For the first time a new form of faster transportation was becoming popular. Henry Ford's innovations were making the automobile an accessible commodity to the people. Flappers didn't just use cars to ride in. The back seat became a popular location for the new popular sexual activity. It was a radical change from their parents' and grandparents' generations. At the end of the 1920s, the stock market crashed and the world was plunged into the Great Depression. Frivolity and recklessness were forced to come to an end. However, many of the flapper's changes remained. Flappers broke away from the Victorian image of womanhood. They dropped the corset, chopped their hair, dropped layers of clothing to increase ease of movement, wore makeup, created the concept of dating, and became a sexual person. They created what many consider the "new" or "modern" woman.
Mead published work during this time focused on personality characteristic differences between men and women and how individuals were shaped by cultural conditioning rather than

heredity. Mead finds that premarital promiscuity was the ruling cultural pattern in Samoa, the community did not attempt to curb the sexual activity of adolescents and she had discovered Samoa to be a sexual Utopia of free love-making. Her findings were published in her book Coming of Age in Samoa 1928. The Library of Congress (n.d.), states the following:
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. After spending about nine months observing and interviewing Samoans, as well as administering psychological tests, Mead concluded that adolescence was not a stressful time for girls in Samoa because Samoan cultural patterns were very different from those in the United States. She attributed this difference to cultural factors. She argued that, living in a homogenous culture, Samoan adolescent girls did not face numerous conflicting personal choices and demands.
At this moment in the United States I feel like it has been a sexuality movements in at the present time our sexuality has evolved.. Same sex marriage is legally recognized in some states and just recently the NFL signed the first openly gay player. People are not keeping their sex lives hidden anymore for example, MTV has a reality show Dating Naked. They take two people that have never met before take off all their clothes and then put them together in front of a camera for a date. Personally I think sex is in our face all day and that at the present time, we are becoming desensitized to sex. Seeing nudity online is normal in todays’ world, and I think it desensitized to people because it make society feel like it is not a big deal. With the world of new technology people are sending racy pictures to each other better know as sexting, there’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Some people will argue that the changing in our sex cultural is

healthy and good and others will disagree, but what I do know is that our culture thinking of sex has changed and it is here to stay whether society approves or not.

References
Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of CultureSamoa: The Adolescent Girl. (n.d.). Samoa: The Adolescent Girl. Retrieved September 9, 2014, from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mead/field-samoa.html
Roseenberg, J. (n.d.). The New, Modern Woman: The Flapper. About. Retrieved September 9, 2014, from http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers_3.htm