Margaret Mead Samoa study and anthropological bias history

Margaret Mead Samoa study and anthropological bias history. Margaret Mead was the most famous anthropologist of the 20th century She studied in American Samoa to support the nature vs nurture debate Her work was explicitly for fighting ideological battles in 1920s-30s academia

Margaret Mead was the 20th century's most famous anthropologist. Student of Franz Boas, father of American anthropology, she studied American Samoa and concluded Samoans practiced free love. Later anthropologist Derek Freeman found her conclusions were inaccurate. Her first husband was archaeologist Luther Cressman. The study illustrates how cultural and political biases affect research.

Key Facts

• Margaret Mead was the most famous anthropologist of the 20th century
• She studied in American Samoa to support the nature vs nurture debate
• Her work was explicitly for fighting ideological battles in 1920s-30s academia
• She was a student of Franz Boas, father of American anthropology
• Mead interviewed only teenage girls and concluded Samoans practiced free love
• Another anthropologist Martin Freeman later found her conclusions were inaccurate
• Anthropology and archaeology have been affected by cultural and political biases from their beginnings
• Her first husband was one of the pioneers of the CIA
• Selection bias exists in research - what gets funded and what is looked for

Source: Illegitimate Scholar & DeDunking Mock Debunker Archaeologists by DeDunking