Coming Of Age In Samoa
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
One of the most celebrated and controversial works of 20th-century social science, Coming of Age in Samoa chronicles the adolescent lives of young women in the South Pacific, presenting a radical challenge to Western assumptions about the universality of human development. Based on Margaret Mead's pioneering fieldwork conducted in 1925–1926, the study argues that the turbulence and stress commonly associated with adolescence in America are not biological inevitabilities, but rather the product of cultural conditioning — a conclusion that sent shockwaves through the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and education alike. Mead's prose is accessible yet authoritative, blending meticulous ethnographic observation with a passionate advocacy for cross-cultural understanding, making Coming of Age in Samoa as much a critique of American society as a portrait of Samoan life. As the founding text of cultural anthropology's popular canon, it raised enduring questions about nature versus nurture, gender, and the malleability of human experience that scholars and readers continue to debate nearly a century later. Does culture truly shape destiny — or does destiny shape culture?
Author: Margaret Mead
Format: Paperback
Genre: Anthropology
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
One of the most celebrated and controversial works of 20th-century social science, Coming of Age in Samoa chronicles the adolescent lives of young women in the South Pacific, presenting a radical challenge to Western assumptions about the universality of human development. Based on Margaret Mead's pioneering fieldwork conducted in 1925–1926, the study argues that the turbulence and stress commonly associated with adolescence in America are not biological inevitabilities, but rather the product of cultural conditioning — a conclusion that sent shockwaves through the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and education alike. Mead's prose is accessible yet authoritative, blending meticulous ethnographic observation with a passionate advocacy for cross-cultural understanding, making Coming of Age in Samoa as much a critique of American society as a portrait of Samoan life. As the founding text of cultural anthropology's popular canon, it raised enduring questions about nature versus nurture, gender, and the malleability of human experience that scholars and readers continue to debate nearly a century later. Does culture truly shape destiny — or does destiny shape culture?