The Influence of Culture & Socialization on Gender Roles

Margaret Mead in Papua New Guinea

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Margaret Mead

- One of the most famousanthropologists of the 20th century

- Preeminent speaker of women’srights and a controversial author

Nature or Nurture? PREDOMINANTLY NURTURE

Margaret Mead

- Traveled to Papua New Guinea 1931 to determine the extent to which gender roles were the product of genes or culture

- Published her findings in her book Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies

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Mead’s Findings

- Found a different pattern of M/F behavior in each of the cultures she studied

- All different from gender role expectations in the United States at that time.

- 3 Major Tribes Studied1. Arapesh 2. Mundugumor 3. Tchambuli

Arapesh- When Mead arrived in 1931, the people had no official name for themselves.

- She called them Arapesh - Arapesh = the tribe’s word for “person”

- Found that both males and females were conditioned to be cooperative, unaggressive and empathetic.

- Both men and women behaved more like what we would consider feminine behavior

Arapesh

Mundugumor

- More Aggressive tribe living along the Yuat River

- In Contrast to the Arapesh, the Mundgumor people socialized their youth to be more “masculine”

- aggressive - ruthless - relatively unresponsive to needs of others

Mundugumor

A Mundugumor mother holding her baby rather indifferent to her own child.

Mundugumor

Tchambuli

-Tchambuli contrasted previous two- Arapesh = “standardized females”- Mundugmor = “standardized males”

- Tchambuli = opposite of “western idea of gender”- Female

- Dominant - Impersonal- Aggressive

- Male- Dependent -Submissive

Tchambuli

A Tchambuli mother holding her child. Tchambuli women tend to take on the more “masculine” role in tribal society

Conclusions

- According to Mead: human nature is flexible enough to rule out biological determination of gender roles

- Gender roles are NOT fixed at birth

- Individuals can be fairly easily socialized into the gender of the opposite sex

You inherit your sex, but you learn your gender

Conclusions

“Male and female personalities are socially

produced.”- Margaret Mead American Anthropologist