Chapter 4: The Samoan Household
Coming of Age in Samoa
Margaret Mead
Summary: In this article, Mead describes a general hierarchical view of the villages and households. One of the main ideas described in this chapter is the relationship held between relatives. She describes that they were always there to help each other, but just as they helped out, they expected a favor back from the relative soon. Mead also spent a big part of the chapter discussing the titles the highest men and women would hold in a household. For men, it is the chief title, and she described the process and considerations taken when it was time to select a successor. She also discusses the title of princess of the household, and the factors that affected the selection.
Discussion: As Mead introduces more and more the culture of the Samoan families, the more I think that my first impression about the book was mistaken. At first I thought that such a civilization would be much simpler, no complexity. However, I now think that there are many things going on at once, and even when their society is so much different than ours, there is still some high level of complexity. They have their own customs, rules, and traditions; they are so different to us in many ways, but not so much in others.
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