Margaret Mead
American anthropologist whose book Coming of Age in Samoa argued culture, not biology, shapes adolescence Show bio
Bio
Margaret Mead grew up with a sociologist mother who studied Italian immigrants in New Jersey. She set out for Samoa in 1925 while earning her doctorate at Columbia University.
Mead lived among Samoan girls and women, recording how they grew into adulthood. She described Samoan youth as freer than American teenagers, whose growing up she called awkward. Mead turned that comparison into Coming of Age in Samoa, which made her famous.
She influenced the 1960s sexual revolution with reports on sex in Pacific and Asian cultures. Mead became the target of anthropologist Derek Freeman, whose attacks badly tarnished her public image.