Coming of Age in Samoa

Cultural  

1. (1928) A book written by Margaret Mead. Mead determined that the socialization of children in Samoa results in a generally happy adolescence and easy transition to sexual activity and adulthood. These findings challenged the widely held belief that biological changes occurring during adolescence were necessarily accompanied by social and psychological stress. Mead argued that adolescent stress is a cultural, not a biological, phenomenon. Coming of Age contributed to the popularization of anthropology and helped to establish the anthropology subfield of culture and personality. Her interpretation of Samoan society was later challenged by Derek Freeman, and a bitter controversy ensued.

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Coming of Age in Samoa

Chagnon’s riveting 1968 account of his field work, Yanomamo: The Fierce People, surpassed Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa to become the bestselling work of ethnography ever.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 29, 2019

That theme was struck most forcefully in Mead's 1928 classic, Coming of Age in Samoa.

From Time Magazine Archive

When I lived there in the early 1970s, I asked an elderly Samoan what he thought of Mead's book Coming of Age in Samoa.

From Time Magazine Archive

The result of her research, published in 1928 when she was 26, was Coming of Age in Samoa.

From Time Magazine Archive

The result of her study was published three years later as Coming of Age in Samoa.

From Time Magazine Archive