A German American Anthropologist, By Franz Boas - 2136 Words

Question 1 It was often believed that human behavior in a society was strictly dictated and identified by biological factors. However, a German-American anthropologist, Franz Boas, was one of the first anthropologist that familiarized culture as the prime concept for identifying behavior in a society. To belong to a society, one must be able to follow the rules of the culture in which they find themselves in. Culture in a social group dictates major parts of life, through traditional beliefs and concepts which have been passed down from previous generations. We often see that people try to perceive about themselves in relation to other cultures in order to determine a psychological process. This psychological process is strictly†¦show more content†¦These cultural factors are believed to dictate human behavior through the educational, economic, political and religious elements of the society. An example of cultural determinism can be dated as far back as Ancient Greece. They believed t hat only those who communicated in their language alone could interpret their political angle as well as their language and that other civilizations were barbaric. At the point of her death, Margret Mead was arguably the most famous and important anthropologist in the world. Through her work many people were able to learn about anthropology and its application to the human species. She was well known for the momentous work she did on children and adolescents. She also had an impact on gender roles with two notable works, sex role in Britain and the lifestyle of adolescents in Samoa. From her research and field work she was able to determine that culture plays a huge part in gender roles in a society. In class, we read A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication and Silence in Eastern Apache Culture, which are two very good examples that show sex roles in culture. Unaware of the Samoa culture, Mead was shocked to see that the adolescence stage of the girls in Samoa was calmer than in other cultures