[Cicero]

Evidently Franz Boas falsified his findings in order to argue a politically correct view of human nature.

Boas was also largely responsible for the movement in cultural anthropology that led to Margaret Mead, Jean-Paul Sartre, and other who argued that there is no such thing as "human nature" as such, but only various human cultures, which can be constructed and deconstructed at will. In some cultures incest and sex with children are tabu, in others, they are perfectly OK, according to this view.

In other words, Boas was a major progenitor of politically correct postmodernism and current relativistic views of morality.

Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa," with its bogus science, had a major impact on the counter-cultural revolution of the 60s. In an important way, Boas was responsible for that whole sorry movement that has weakened and corrupted western civilization in Europe and America.

[Steely Tom]

Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa," with its bogus science, had a major impact on the counter-cultural revolution of the 60s. In an important way, Boas was responsible for that whole sorry movement that has weakened and corrupted western civilization in Europe and America.

You are right on the money here. The "work" of Boas and Mead was of a piece with other "progressive" forces such as Alfred Kinsey. Their conclusions validated the lifestyles of many in the elite cultural vanguard and were therefore swallowed whole. Most of it was based on fraud and wishful thinking.

"I'm not cheating on my wife with my graduate student. I'm performing scientific research."

It took very little time for the forces of cultural decay to hijack the prestige of science.

(steely)