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Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead Quotes

Cultural Anthropologist

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Famous Margaret Mead Quotes

“... some veil between childhood and the present is necessary. If the veil is withdrawn, the artistic imagination sickens and dies, the prophet looks in the mirror with a disillusioned and cynical sneer, the scientist goes fishing.”

IfsLooksDiesImaginationChildhoodScientistMirrorsArtisticProphetFishingCynicalVeilsDisillusionedSneer
Book:Male and female: a study of the sexes in a changing world
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“Living in the modern world, clothed and muffled, forced to convey our sense of our bodies in terms of remote symbols like walking sticks and umbrellas and handbags, it is easy to lose sight of the immediacy of the human body plan.”

WorldHumansBodyEasyTermLosesPlansModernWalkingSightSticksSymbolsHuman BodyModern WorldUmbrellaImmediacyHandbagsWalking Sticks
Book:Male and female: a study of the sexes in a changing world
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“Much of the ill-tempered railing against women that has characterized the popular writing of the last two years is a half-heartedattempt to find a way back to a more balanced relationship between our biological selves and the world we have built. So women are scolded both for being mothers and for not being mothers, for wanting to eat their cake and have it too, and for not wanting to eat their cake and have it too.”

WorldWayWritingYearsTwoSelfLastsMotherHalfBuiltIllTwo YearsSexismCakeBalancedBeing A MotherScoldedIll TemperedBalanced Relationship
Author:Margaret Mead
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“The protection of a ten-year-old girl from her father's advances is a necessary condition of social order, but the protection of the father from temptation is a necessary condition of his continued social adjustment. The protections that are built up in the child against desire for the parent become the essential counterpart to the attitudes in the parent that protect the child.”

YearsChildrenDesireOrderGirlFatherSocialParentAttitudeConditionsProtectTenEssentialsBuiltProtectionTemptationAdjustmentSocial OrderCounterparts
Book:Male and female: a study of the sexes in a changing world
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“If we are to give our utmost effort and skill and enthusiasm, we must believe in ourselves, which means believing in our past and in our future, in our parents and in our children, in that particular blend of moral purpose and practical inventiveness which is the American character.”

IfsGivingBelieveMeanChildrenCharacterPastPurposeParentEffortMoralParticularSkillsOur ChildrenPracticalsEnthusiasmOur FutureOur PastInventivenessAmerican Character
Author:Margaret Mead
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“In contrast to our own social environment which brings out different aspects of human nature and often demonstrated that behavior which occurs almost invariably in individuals within our society is nevertheless due not to original nature but to social environment; and a homogeneous and simple development of the individual may be studied.”

HumansMayDifferentIndividualSocialSimpleEnvironmentHuman NatureDevelopmentBehaviorAspectOriginalsDuesOur SocietyContrastNeverthelessHomogeneousSocial Environment
Book:Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education
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“No skill, no special apti­tude, no vividness of imagination or precision of thinking would go unrecognized because the child who possessed it was of one sex rather than the other. No child would be relentlessly shaped to one pattern of behavior, but instead there should be many patterns, in a world that had learned to allow to each individual the pattern which was most congenial to his gifts.”

ThinkingWorldShouldChildrenWould BeIndividualSexImaginationSpecialSkillsBehaviorPatternsPossessedPrecisionVividness
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Female animals defending their young are notoriously ferocious and lack the playful delight in combat which characterizes the mock combats of males of the same species. There seems very little ground for claiming that the mother of young children is more peaceful, more responsible, and more thoughtful for the welfare of the human race than is her husband or brother.”

HumansChildrenLittlesSeemsYoungMotherAnimalRaceBrotherHusbandFemaleResponsibleSpeciesMalesDelightPeacefulWelfareHuman RaceThoughtfulCombatMockYoung Children
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Anthropology... has always been highly dependent upon photography... As the use of still photography - and moving pictures - has become increasingly essential as a part of anthropological methods, the need for photographers with a disciplined knowledge of anthropology and for anthropologists with training in photography has increased. We expect that in the near future sophisticated training in photography will be a requirement for all anthropologists. (1962)”

NeedsStillsUseMovingEssentialsPhotographyTrainingMethodPhotographerDependentSophisticatedRequirementsAnthropologyAnthropologists
Author:Margaret Mead
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