The study became a leading text in the nature versus nurture debate, as well as in discussions on issues relating to family, adolescence, gender, social norms, and attitudes. The work was so ground-breaking in that it was one of the first anthropological texts based on immersive fieldwork as well as one of the first studies to use cross-cultural comparisons to highlight issues within Western society. Based on a 9-month study conducted in a small village of 600 people on the island of Ta'ū, the easternmost island of Samoa, Meade used her findings to assert her theory that culture had a leading influence on psycho-sexual development. On publication, Coming of Age in Samoa drew both enormous popular attention and academic interest, establishing Mead as a leading figure in American anthropology and generating a heightened awareness of ethnographic study in the United States.

An exceptional example of this landmark work in ethnographic and anthropological thought, we have never seen another signed example. Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation Author: Mead, Margaret Keywords: Manners and customs. From a psychological perspectives there are several shortcomings. Mead has an ability to present a scientific study in poetic form drawing the reader in while communicating social observations. Signed by Margaret Mead on the half-title page. Coming of Age in Samoa is well written and engaging, an enjoyable read.

New York: William Morrow & Company, 1928.įirst edition of Mead’s pioneering work which, upon publication, established her as the most famous anthropologist in the world. Coming of Age In Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation.

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