Books : Sex and Temperament: In Three Primitive Societies
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
EAN: 9780060934958
ISBN: 0060934956
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: June 01, 2001
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: May 22, 2001
Sales Rank: 72966
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Product Description:
First published in 1935, Sex & Temperament is a fascinating and brilliant anthropological study of the intimate lives of three New Guinea tribes from infancy to adulthood. Focusing on the gentle, mountain-dwelling Arapesh, the fierce, cannibalistic Mundugumor, and the graceful headhunters of Tchambuli -- Mead advances the theory that many so-called masculine and feminine characteristics are not based on fundamental sex differences but reflect the cultural conditioning of different societies. This edition, prepared for the centennial of Mead's birth, features introductions by Helen Fisher and Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.
A precursor to Mead's illuminating Male & Female, Sex & Temperament lays the groundwork for her lifelong study of gender differences.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Lets call this what it is: Lies. To be more generous, maybe its wishful thinking or a gauzy daydream created by a hopeful, yet intellectually dishonest mind. As a liberal, sure, it underpinned and gave support to some good movements, but does the ends justify the means? Or does this kind of fictional writing ultimately undermine the cause?
Weston LaBarre wrote: "When I was a graduate student in anthropology at Yale in the late '30's, Mead's Sex and Temperament came out. Puzzled that even a big island like New Guinea should have had three tribes waiting to be discovered to prove her point about the non-biological nature of gender, I went to Edward Sapir with my puzzlement. He said laconically, 'She's a pathological liar'. I was startled as much by what he said, as by the fact that an eminent anthropologist and chairman of a department should say this to a mere graduate student. But over the years, I have come to believe that this is literally the case." The next round in the evaluation of Mead's anthropology, we may hope, will collect and critically assess this largely unpublished expert opinion.
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This was one of the most influential books in modern history, but unfortunately for Western society, it was a pseudoscientific fraud. Mead claimed that women were dominant in the Tchambuli tribe, without causing problems. This statement was used as the intellectual cornerstone of the later Women's liberation movement. However, reliable modern references such as Encyclopedia Britannica make no mention of female dominance or power in those tribes, except for infrequent taboo ceremonies by female witches. (That tribe is also called Chambri or Chimbu in modern references.) Mead also described the Arapesh people as pacifist, cooperative, happy folks, and that was used by later Columbia University students such as Kerouac and Ginsberg as the philosphical basis of the Hippy Revolution. Modern references describe the Arapesh as having been just as competitive and warlike as other primitive peoples. (See also "The Samoa Reader" by Hiram Caton.)
Rating:  -
Margaret Mead provided the foundation for many of the attitudes and philosophies of the mid-century's women's movement. Her insights into the culturally-based gender roles was a cornerstone in our understanding of humanity. This profound study of three very different societies, seperated by geography in remote New Guinea, clearly showed that culture can control our behavior. We can only conclude by her research that we must allow freedom for the individual, first and foremost, if we are to fully reach our potential as individuals.
Rating: -
This is a sadly outdated study of gender in archaeology. With so many resources available, such as Gosline's "Archaeogender", why are we still relying on old reprints like this?
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