Reference:
Coming of Age in Samoa
Margaret Mead
1928 Harper Perennial
Summary:
Mead recaps the problems facing Western youth (primarily female) in her time. She cites the heterogeneous culture of the West as the primary reason for these problems. In addition, she mentions how the primary form of discipline that parents held over their daughter, namely money, was shattered the moment the daughter was capable of getting a paying job.
Discussion:
I think that perhaps Mead got too technical with her differentiations between a homogeneous and heterogeneous society. Where she talks of the choices that can be made in a heterogeneous society, I would simply call it liberty or freedom. Still, I can't deny that a blend of cultures will expose people to new ideas. There are a couple of things I take issue with though. Mead says that parents shouldn't champion one ideology over another to their children. In this case, parents are more or less reduced to unfortunate necessities in their child's life, simply someone to live with. If and when I have children, I certainly want them to have similar values to me. I'm not going to love them any less if they come in one day saying they've converted to greek mythology, but I'm going to let them know that I'm not terribly thrilled over thier decision. The second thing I take issue with is how Mead states that ethics and morality are subjective from group to group, and as a result no group should judge another groups morality. While this is true in many cases, I refuse to believe that I have no more moral clout that, for example, the Lord's Resistance Army of the Sudan.
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