483. Mead, Margaret. "Cultural Determinants of Behavior." In Behavior and Evolution edited by Ann Roe and G.G. Simpson. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1958: 480-503.
The process of social and cultural change can be fully understood only when each individual involved is fully described along with his culture, social relations, social and ecological context and the other systems with which he or she competes; all these elements must be included in the definition of the unit under discussion.
484. ———. "Independent Religious Movements." Comparative Studies in Society and History 01 (4), 1959: 324-29.
Based primarily on an earlier version of T. Schwartz (1962, item 604). Mead argues for the abolition of the distinction between "primitive," historical, and contemporary movements. The cult results from a "match between the total commitment of the leader and the total involvement of the group" (p. 325). The leader's fate--many potentially exist, few succeed--is a result of [the interaction among] the historical context, the nature of the vision, the leader's "mental makeup," and the personalities of his staff. Mead critiques Worsely (1968: item 769) for being too Marxist, not allowing scope for prediction in his theory because it leaves no room for personalities.
She argues for an assumption of universal readiness for conversion and for potential absolute conviction. Defining readiness allows scope for "subsidiary" concerns like disaster, economic conditions, etc. The leader is one with the capacity for total conviction, a notion which leaves room for different personality characteristics to have play. The "symptoms" of this capacity include most of those of spiritual gifts: "falling down unconscious; convulsive seizures; speaking with tongues"; apparent death and resurrection; and sojourns in the wilderness (p. 327).
Visions are often validated because of unlikely intermediaries: e.g., women and children [in Christianity at least these are precisely the ones we'd expect to have visions--"suffer little children" and all that.] There is a universal "totality" to these experiences.
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