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Posts Tagged ‘Margaret Mead’

When I think of Jane Jacobs, US Anthropologist, Margaret Mead’s famous quotation comes to mind. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Jane Jacobs had no formal training in urban planning and design, yet she wrote a seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which is still referred to five decades later. She opposed plans for an expressway to run through her neighbourhood in New York City and others rallied with her resulting in the Mayor nixing the plans. Jacobs demonstrates that a small group of committed people can change the world.

Name: Jane Jacobs

Birth Date: May 1916 – April 2006

Job Functions: Urban Theorist/Visionary, Writer, and Activist

Fields: Urban Planning

Known For: Stopping the expansion of the Spadina Expressway in Toronto and the Proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway in New York City

After Jacobs graduated from high school in Scranton, Pennsylvania, she worked a year as an unpaid reporter for Scranton Tribune where she got a firsthand look at the problems of working-class districts. After that, she spent six months at a community centre for the Presbyterian home missions that her aunt ran in the mountains of North Carolina. In 1934, Jacobs left for New York City where her older sister was living, and eventually settled in Greenwich Village. While living in New York City, Jacobs initially worked in stenographic and secretarial jobs, and later as a freelance writer contributing articles to several New York publications. She didn’t limit herself to the types of articles she wrote because she was a quick study and would focus on any subject matter she needed to at the time.

During that time, Jacobs was unemployed a lot so she often took the subway and got off at random stops and walked around investigating the neighbourhoods and industrial districts, while at the same time seeking employment. Jane Jacobs learned about the city by wandering around. She was an excellent observer.

In April 1944, while she was a feature writer for the Office of War Information, Jacobs and her two roommates threw a party. One of the party guests was the architect Robert Hyde Jacobs Jr., who soon after became her husband. They had three children together – two boys and a girl.

In 1952, Jacobs took a job as associate editor at Architectural Forum. With the help and support of her husband she could master the knowledge she required to do her job well. In the role of associate editor, Jacobs had to analyze the problems of cities such as New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, San Francisco and Chicago, and became an ardent critic of tearing down old neighbourhoods to accommodate high-rise towers. The 1950s was also a time of urban renewal, and urban planners and developers were destroying the vitality of cities by “cleaning them up.” They levelled buildings in neighbourhoods and replaced them with high rises in park-like settings, thinking that they could get rid of social problems by doing so.

Jacobs wrote about these issues in her articles because she wanted to change the attitudes. She advocated for mixed-use buildings and proposed combining both residential and commercial needs in the same neighbourhood. Jacobs delved deeper into urban planning and design and contributed an article to Fortune magazine for its “The Exploding Metropolis” series. Her husband, and William H. Whyte, the editor of Fortune suggested that she write a book to capture her innovative ideas and thoughts on healthy and unhealthy cities, and The Death and Life of American Cities came into being in 1961. This book turned out to be Jacob’s most influential.

Jane Jacobs on her book “Dark Age Ahead”

If you cannot view this YouTube video please click here.

David versus Goliath

• In 1962, urban planner and multimillionaire Robert Moses proposed a 10-lane superhighway slated to be called the Lower Manhattan Expressway which would run through SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Jacobs chaired the Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Their efforts paid off and New York Mayor John Lindsay killed the plan.
• Jacobs first came head-to-head with Moses in 1956 when he wanted to continue Fifth Avenue (in Manhattan) as a four-lane expressway through Washington Square Park, her neighbourhood park.
• She also opposed Robert Moses’ plan to build a parking lot in Central Park.

Jacobs spoke out against Moses, and led others to oppose his plans. David prevailed over Goliath.

Jane Jacobs on the similarities between economies and nature

If you cannot view this video click here.

In the late 1960s, Jacobs opposed the Vietnam War and got arrested at one of the antiwar demonstration rallies. Her sons were at the age where they could be drafted so her husband encouraged her to move the family to Toronto in 1968, fearing that their sons would be arrested for refusing the draft. Within months of her arrival in Toronto, Jacobs was involved in opposing the Spadina Expressway which was slated to run through the City’s Chinatown, and they were successful in their efforts. She also influenced the regeneration of the St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto.

Jacobs felt at home in Toronto because the city represented many of her ideas and principles about what made healthy cities. Jacobs continued to get involved in issues she was interested in and wrote until she died. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1996 for her writings.

Steps to Success

• Jacobs was very curious and learned how things worked.
• Learned about urban planning and design by walking and wandering around neighbourhoods.
• Quickly acquired the knowledge necessary for any topic she had to write about.
• Overturned current thinking in urban planning and design.
• Jacobs’ husband subscribed to Architectural Forum, and she became a regular reader. She decided that she wanted to work for them, so she applied and was given a trial assignment and then the associate editor position.
• Knew how to garner support for her cause – rallied high profile people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead and the New Yorker architectural critic Lewis Mumford.

Why Jane Jacobs’ Contribution Matters

Jane Jacobs did not have much formal education – she attended Columbia for two years in the School of General Studies taking whatever courses caught her fancy. Jacobs didn’t have a college degree like urban planners and architects, but she was vocal about what she believed in and others listened to her. She created a body of work in the form of articles and books that others refer to.

Lessons from Jane Jacobs 

• You do not need formal education to leave behind a legacy.
• One person can make a difference.
• If you don’t ask you don’t get. Jacobs liked reading Architectural Forum and wanted to work for them, so she applied for a job and got it.

 Books by Jane Jacobs

The Death and Life of Great American Cities (50th Anniversary Edition) (Modern Library) (1961)

The Economy of Cities (1969)

Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1984)

Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics (1992)

The Nature of Economies (2000)

Dark Age Ahead (2004)

Works Cited/Referenced

Encyclopedia of World Biography

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2^nd Edition

American Decades Primary Sources, 1960 -1969

American Women Writers

The Writers Directory 2008

Scribner Encyclopedia of America Lives

Ideas That Matter: The Worlds of Jane Jacobs, edited by Max Allen

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YouTube Credits: Jane Jacobs on the similarities between economies and nature, Jane Jacobs on her book “Dark Age Ahead”AllanGregg; 

Interviewee Name: Patty DeDominic

Company Name: DeDominic & Associates

Website: http://dedominic.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m a businesswoman and an entrepreneur. Now I make my living as a professional coach and I guide high achieving professionals and organizations in making major transitions for themselves and their organizations.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

It is a challenge. I have three sons and five grandchildren and I try to spend time with them, talk to them online, and in person. Our grandson lives with us right now, he’s a college sophomore and he’s on summer vacation so we have the opportunity to make some positive impacts in our grandson’s life and we love that. My three sons are grown now but I try to stay in touch with them. For a number of years until 2006 my oldest son worked with me in my company and it was really wonderful to watch him grow. He eventually became president of one of my companies. I loved working with him until we sold our organization in 2006.

It does take a lot to juggle personal relationships and family life. I think communication and sharing your dreams and sharing your values with a person in your life – in my case would that be my mate – takes work and effort.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Be the change you wish to see, and that was one of my wonderful Gandhi quote.
2. A Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
3. The third one would be to follow your passions. Stay in your genius zone you will be more effective.
4. Don’t neglect your fitness because it’s important. Not carrying around an extra 50 pounds is going to make a difference in your energy level and your overall self-esteem, at least it did for me.
5. Always surround yourself with people who are extraordinary. I try to do that in the people I have as clients, employees, business colleagues and I look for people who are passionate, with high personal integrity, and high moral character, who want to do something that’s meaningful for themselves and for their communities. That kind of theme runs through my network, and I believe that my network and other people’s network is a very powerful tool to help you have a much better life. It makes living so wonderful to be able to share it with other extraordinary people who can help each other.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time how do you spend it?

I love walking in the hills with my dogs and sometimes with my friends and clients. I love taking hikes. It’s a great way to stay fit and to enjoy sunshine and to think. For me it is better than a golf game.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I get great ideas from my friends. I read and I try to learn a lot from other successful people.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

There are two. One is a beautiful quote by a Chinese philosopher, Lao-tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles must begin beneath one’s feet.” I realized that when I needed to make changes in my life I needed to start where I was. It doesn’t do any good to wish for a miracle to happen. It would be great to win the lottery, but I’m not going to hold my breath until that happens so I must start where I am. The other quote is one that I put in my own book, How I Lost It, “Every day I make time to enjoy the beauty of a fit lifestyle with friends, animals and nature.” And I love that quote because it’s mine and an affirmation for a good life.

Note from Avil: the older translation of the Lao-tzu quote, and the more accurate one is above, but the more popular one is, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

By being able to work and do the things you want to do with great people, and to be able to make a difference for yourself and others.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

The formula for success includes thinking about what you want to accomplish, and believing that you can accomplish it, so it’s conceive, believe and receive and that’s getting help from other people. Receiving success is doing it and making it happen.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

There were many: I had to study, I had mentors, I had to believe that I could do it, I had to experiment and practice, make mistakes and learn. So those are the steps, it’s conceive, believe, receive, and achieve. Being grateful is an important part of being successful. I think you must be grateful for the things you have that you have been given.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

If you are starting out as an entrepreneur, I would say to surround yourself with extraordinary people, get crystal clear about what your goals and objectives are then work hard to accomplish it. It’s trial and error. It’s progress and not perfection, and always keep learning.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

1. Gandhi because I’d like to know more about how he visualized the world.
2. Margaret Thatcher because I always admired what she did for the world as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
3. I’d like to meet John Kennedy because I think he was a role model for a lot of people in many ways and his vision to put man on the moon was an extraordinary, brave, and bold accomplishment.
4. I would like to meet Jesus Christ and I would like to know if there is anything else I should be doing in my life, and see if he had any additional guidance for me. I try to talk to him frequently, but right now it’s sort of a one-way conversation.
5. I’d like to meet Lady Gaga. I think her audacity is just amazing and I think she and some other contemporary female recording artists are making business history and I would just love to learn a little bit more about what her business goals and strategies are.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. My father had me read it as a child and I learned a lot from it and I think my interpersonal skills and my ability to relate to other people were guided by Dale Carnegie’s philosophy about learning about other people, trying to help others with their objectives, and that’s how you get your own objectives met as well.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants. It’s just a great book, I just finished reading it.
2. Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: I really love what he has to say.
3. Dan Pink’s Free Agent Nation: It was a really interesting discussion about what’s changing in the job market today.
4. Two of my own books: How I Lost It (99pounds.com) and Make it Real (makeitrealsystems.com) which just came out. I would like to read those books, make them better, then when I get off the deserted island I’d like to share them with the world.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Midnight in Paris the new Woody Allen movie is just great and the music CD would be anything by Annie Lennox.

If you cannot view Midnight in Paris YouTube movies trailer please click here.

If you cannot view the Annie Lennox YouTube video please click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Every day! Being able to learn new things and interacting with great people.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

By surrounding myself with great people, reading, being with my animals and with people I love.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

The end of wars.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I enjoy the beauty and a fit lifestyle with friends, animal and nature.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Interviewee Name: Traci Wells

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Traci Wells: Professionally I worked at Rogers for 15 years and was responsible for the management and development curriculum, which I loved. In the last two years, I’ve had a pretty massive life changing event which led me to make some changes in my professional and personal life. I suffered from a sudden cardiac arrest, my heart basically stopped and I was without a heart beat for almost four minutes. I was saved that day because of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator). The interesting thing about this event is there were no signs or symptoms. I had no problems with my health, or with my heart. Even after the event, I’m very fortunate there is no damage to my heart. I was in the hospital for 10 days and they tested everything they could. I’m one of those cases where they basically told me we’ll never know why it happened.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Traci Wells: The next job I get is going to have to fit into my life versus my life fitting into the job. I have a whole different perspective on the person that I’m working with. I don’t think I’d be as patient with a bad leader as I used to be. I always try to help and mentor and coach, but sometimes people just don’t change. I think I stayed with a lot of bad leaders out of fear. I haven’t talked much about fear and I’d say that’s been one of my biggest learnings is that fear is so debilitating, and in reality once you face that fear it’s never as bad as you thought it would be.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Traci Wells:

1. The lesson with fear is that we create the fear to be much bigger than what it is in reality. When you face it, it’s not as bad as you thought it was.
2. Life can be gone in an instant, you have to make the most of it. It sounds so cliché but it goes back to the “don’t wait.” Don’t wait to live the life that you’re meant to.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I was a self-sufficient, independent, can-do-it-all myself kind of person and I realized that I don’t have to do with all myself, and it isn’t a sign of weakness to ask for help. I’ve learned this over the last few years that if you ask people to describe me they would say that I have no problem being vulnerable, and as a result of that, I build extremely tight relationships with people because when you’re willing to show your flaws and make mistakes people see you as a real person. So don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
4. Some of us do not value our health until there is a reason to look at it. I did not value my health until there was a risk to it and as I sit here at 42, if I was doing what I’ve been doing for the past year I probably would not have had a cardiac arrest. Even though the doctors cannot tell me why it happened, you have to look at the way you have been living your life and when people look at the list of things that’s important to them, what they value most, they always put family first. I say you have to put your health first or else you won’t be there for your family if your health isn’t strong.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

Traci Wells: I love volunteering now even though that may not be down time in some people’s eyes. Giving back, whether it be to the Heart and Stroke Foundation because of my experience, or something in my community that I believe in. There is a great quote that I love for, it basically is “Service is the rent we pay for our time on this Earth,” and I get as much out of that as the people that I’m giving it to so that’s a big one.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Traci Wells: A few, sometimes the process is as simple as turning on my computer, putting some music on and looking at the view of the Don Valley and just giving myself some time to think. That’s a process. I don’t think we give ourselves enough time to think, so I make time for that. I have some great people in my life and we feed off each other for great ideas. I had a friend here yesterday, we are working on a cool new Internet idea, and for him and I, the great ideas just come from taking one idea and expanding on it and by the end we get to this really great place. Collaboration is a really important step

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Traci Wells: I really like “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has,” by Margaret Mead, but I am in a service mode so let’s go with “Service is the rent we pay for our time on this Earth.”

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Traci Wells: Success is individual and personal. Success and what is valuable to me may be very different from what matters to you. I define success as being proud of the work that I’m doing, knowing that I’m making a contribution.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Traci Wells: The formula for success definitely has to be giving yourself enough worth as you give to others. I’m the kind of person who would do anything for everyone, and that’s a lovely quality, but it went to the point where I never did anything for myself. I want people to recognize that they are as important as the people that they’re doing the work for. Think about the mother who puts her children first, and that’s great, I don’t have children but I can understand why you would do that, but I don’t think we think about ourselves enough, especially as women.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Traci Wells: I took some risks definitely. I went back to school as many times as I could because I think continuous learning especially in my field is a requirement. Learning and development can be a very typical process, what made me successful was going outside of the normal process and said, “we know that some of those things work, but what if you tried this?” Maybe it goes back to taking risks and not being afraid to try something different.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Traci Wells: Based on my perspective now, starting out, if you’re right out of university jumping into the new job you’re thinking you have to be here today 24/7 to make an impact, and what I realized is it’s not how much time you spend doing something, it’s definitely the quality and the impact. Make sure that you develop a structure for yourself that doesn’t create your career that’s your only focus, even if that’s for only 10 years. There can be balance all the way through.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Traci Wells: I used to ask this question in class, that’s a great icebreaker for people, and before I met my father, I would say my father.

1. I would want to meet Martin Luther King and I would say thank you for having the courage to make change.
2. And I’d like to meet Oprah Winfrey and say something very similar. But she also helped me to see my value, so I’d say, “Thank you for making me see my own value and potential.”
3. I’ve always had this fascination with Janis Joplin, and I think what I would ask her is why she didn’t value her life enough.
4. I like to meet Gandhi and I’d ask him how he maintained his strength in living his life at the time.
5. I love to meet the Dalai Lama and let him share his learnings with me around fear and courage because he has an awful lot of courage and I’m curious about how he deals with the fear.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Traci Wells: This is funny! Do you know The Princess Bride? They actually made a movie about it. But the book was a read to me when I was in public school, and my teacher was a huge fan of the book and every day I would look forward to hearing the next chapter. And why it was so powerful, as a young child, I wasn’t someone who lived in fantasy. I was an adult much sooner than I should have been, and as a result, I couldn’t see fantasy, I didn’t enjoy it. And the Princess Bride took me to a whole different place of fantasy and after I read that book I started writing myself. It’s not a business book or anything like that but allowed me to see fantasy, and that it can be fun, and a place to be creative in.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

Traci Wells:

1. The Princess Bride for what I just said.
2. She’s Come Undone and the reason why I like that one is it was the first book that spoke to how I really felt about life and did not apologize for it.
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People fundamentally changed the way I look at life. That book allowed me to meet my father, it opened my mind enough to want to find out who he was.
4. Good to Great from a business perspective, and it was the first time I felt at least in my business environment, that people understood the value of focusing on the people, and not just on the process. I thought that was a revolutionary business book.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Traci Wells: I love music so that’s really tough, but I have to say Bruce Springsteen because there’s something motivating in his music like the underdog can win, and it would help me to get off that deserted island. As for the movie it would have to be a The Way We Were because it’s my favourite movie of all time and I can watch it over and over again without getting bored of it.

If you cannot view this Bruce Springsteen YouTube video click here.

If you cannot view The Way We Were YouTube video please click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Traci Wells: Everything right now. The potential, the opportunities, the fact that I still have life, it excites me. I never considered death before this experience, and I wouldn’t say that it’s an area that I focus on now, but because of that life and death experience, life means a wondrous thing to me now. I have a whole new value for time.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Traci Wells: Providing service helps with that, wonderful friends and family, and music.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Traci Wells: I’d wish that everybody could be educated. And I don’t mean higher learning education, but education that can solve all of our world’s problems. So I would actually ask the genie to give everyone some learning, some education that they can expand their worlds.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Traci Wells: I’m happy when I’m making a contribution.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Mondays at the Salon

Mentors have been around for centuries, but there are many different kinds of mentors. Mentors can also be invisible, that means that they are not aware that they are mentoring us. They are our role models.

The Mentor as Invisible.

Booked on Tuesdays

We reviewed Foundation’s Edge, Foundation and Earth and Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov, another three instalments in the seven Foundation novels. What would you do if you had the unique ability to make the correct decision even with incomplete information? Would you constantly take action?

A Look at Foundation’s Edge, Foundation and Earth and Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Wisdom Wednesdays

We profiled anthropologist Margaret Mead, who brought anthropology to the people by writing a column in Redbook magazine and appearing frequently on talk radio.

Margaret Mead Was Known as the Grandmother of the World, Why?

Perspective Thursdays and Workshop Fridays

From conducting interviews over the years, one of the things I have learned is that we can learn from the experiences of others. This week we did something a little bit differently and that is we grouped the responses of several interviewees to the same questions. We know that we provide a lot of content, so we wanted you to compare and contrast the answers to the same questions. Here are The Ultimate Mentor One and The Ultimate Mentor Two.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Name: Margaret Mead

Birth Date: December 1901 – November 1978

Job Functions: Anthropologist, Researcher, Professor, Curator, Author and Globetrotter

Fields: Anthropology

Known For: Studies of culture and personality, child socialization, gender, generational differences, cultural change, and applied anthropology.

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Mentors: Ruth Benedict and Franz Boas

Most Famous Publications: Coming of Age in Samoa and Keep Your Powder Dry were national bestsellers.

Margaret Mead had a non-traditional upbringing. Both of her parents worked, her father, Edward Sherwood Mead was an economist at the Wharton School of Business and her mother, Emily Fogg Mead was a social scientist. By the time she was 11 years old, she had moved 60 times and consumed meals prepared by 107 cooks because her father was instrumental in establishing extension branches of the Wharton School across the state of Pennsylvania.

Her mother Emily, and her paternal grandmother, Martha Ramsey Mead a child psychologist, were very hands-on when it came to Margaret’s education at home. She was directed to “collect data for observation and recording – from the structure of leaves to the language patterns and personality differences of her younger siblings could be noted as data.” She observed how other children behaved and took notes on their behaviours. Though her father Edward played a less active role in her upbringing, his discussions with her about his work instilled in her an understanding of using case studies to generalize.

Before Mead became a teenager, she had already accompanied Emily on field trips where she was “engaged in sociological research among Italian immigrants.” From a young age, it was instilled in Mead the importance of not discriminating against others because of their race. She acquired a respect for human equality and differences. The instruction Margaret received from both her mother, grandmother and father allowed her to cultivate the skills she later relied on as an anthropologist.

In her senior year at college, Mead took a course in anthropology taught by Franz Boas. The course profoundly impacted her so much that she decided to become an anthropologist. After she completed her studies she went to study the life of adolescents among the Polynesian on a six-week field trip. She later moved to the island of Ta’u and remained there for nine months where she studied 68 Samoan girls ages eight to 20, with an emphasis on 25 of these females. Five years later she published her work in Coming of Age in Samoa, which became a national bestseller and catapulted her into worldwide fame.

Mead conducted many more field trips which she also published in book form. For her early research, she did not exercise scientific rigor, which she was criticized for after her death. Her third husband Gregory Bateson, who came from a family of natural scientists, changed that for her, and he enhanced Mead’s methodology and scientific rigor for conducting her research. And Bateson also learned from her more about the observation process.

Bateson and Mead did some innovative work when they used photography as a research tool. While they worked in Bali for two years, they took 38,000 photographs, 759 of which were selected for their book Balinese Character in 1942. The extensive use of film in their work allowed them to record and analyze even the smallest detail of behaviour which would escape the pen-and-paper ethnographer.

During Margaret Mead’s life, she wrote close to 30 books, edited another 12, conducted 24 field trips with major expeditions, gave at least a hundred speeches each year, contributed hundreds of articles, received 28 honorary degrees in humanities, science and law, received 40 distinguished awards for science and citizenships, was president of seven professional organizations, wrote a column for Redbook magazine (1961 – 1978), frequently appeared on talk shows and was one of the most sought after lecturers in the United States. Other body of works she left behind include films, records and tapes.

When Margaret Mead died, the media dubbed her the “grandmother of the world.”

Why Margaret Mead’s work was important

She was the first anthropologist to examine child-rearing practices and the role of women in cross-cultural perspective. She believed that social behaviour, including gender roles were determined by cultural forces and set out to prove it. And most important, she brought anthropology to the public by writing a column in a popular magazine and appearing on talk radio.

Events that shaped Margaret Mead’s life

• Undoubtedly, having Emily Fogg Mead as a mother, and Martha Ramsey Mead as a grandmother helped to shaped Mead’s life because of the instruction they provided.
• Mead’s training under Franz Boas at Columbia University prepared her for the work she did. Franz Boas who was the Dean of American Cultural Anthropology was willing to train women fieldworkers including Ruth Benedict, who became Mead’s lifelong confidante.

Controversial Ideas

Mead also had some very controversial ideas, three of which were:

1. Newlyweds should purchase divorce insurance.
2. An ideal society should consist of people who were homosexual in their youth, heterosexual in middle age, and homosexual again in later years.
3. Instead of the nuclear family, she advocated for “cluster” units comprised of older married couples, singles, and teenagers from other households.

A previous post written in 2009 Can a Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Make a Difference? Margaret Mead Thought So complements this one.

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Further Reading

Can a Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens Make a Difference? Margaret Mead Thought So

Margaret Mead By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide  December 16, 2010

Sources Cited/Referenced

American National Biography

International Encyclopedia of Women Scientists

Women in World History

Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia

Dictionary of Women Worldwide

Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science

Encyclopedia of World Biography