MEAD,MARGARET MALE-AND-FEMALE REVISITED

The book Male and Female, originally published in 1949, has been haile d as an early work of feminism. However, its connotations and objectio ns were different in three respects from contemporary sociology of gen der. First, the book envisaged gender as a male-female relationship wh ich is socially structured albeit biologically based. Second, the book followed on from Mead's work anticipating political reconstruction fo r Germany (and Japan) as it was prepared in various contexts during Wo rld War II. Third, the book may be placed in a biographical female-mal e situation of Mead's life with Gregory Bateson in the 1930s and 1940s (including The Importance of Dr Speck). The article reconstructs thes e three frames of reference into which the book belongs.