"Experience of another culture can be gained by work in any other society, not necessarily an isolated and technologically simple one, and, in a modern society, can complement the work of other disciplines. Well equipped with anthropological concepts, the student who learns the language and lives wholly within the society he is systematically studying may acquire sufficient crosscultural insight to make important contributions to theory and practice. But nowhere are we preparing students for work of this kind by training them to work as anthropologists together with members of other disciplines or by training a new generation of students to use the methods developed for anthropological research in modern societies a whole generation agoe Much of the exploratory work was done on cultures studied at a distance. Studies made at first hand would be an adventure of another kind.

What is there for young anthropologists to do? In one sense, everything. The best possible work has not yet been done. If I were twenty-one today, I would elect to join the communicating network of those young people, the world over, who recognize the urgency of life-supporting change -- as an anthropologist." (BW 296)

Here is a clearly stated belief concerning the future of the science of anthropology. It is based on the perception of someone who has spent a lifetime practicing the discipline and it represents a call to action for those who teach it. The concepts of general systems theory are present in her suggestion of a cooperative effort with members of other disciplines.

"We have now traced in some detail the Soviet ideal of the relationship between the Party and the masses and between the leader and the people and also the way in which the leadership group is supposed both to draw upon the energy and strength of the people and yet to remain above the people, guiding and directing them because of a closer contact with the Truth. We have discussed some of the discrepancies within this ideal; for example, the way in which members of each leadership level are expected to be models for those beneath them, while those beneath them, although owing them legal allegiance as officials of superior rank who speak in the name of the Party, owe them no personal allegiance, but instead are expected to give their personal devotion to the top leadership of the Party only. Motivation is expected to result from such a close awareness of the never-ending struggle in the world and from such an urge to reach ever higher levels of achievement that each new activity must, to be equally satisfying, be better than the last. The people themselves, the masses and the children, are supposed to contribute a spontaneous energy which nevertheless must always be manipulated, directed, and kept within bounds. Every area of life is brought within the political, and the whole of each individual's personality is conceived as being involved in anything which he does." (SATA 89)

Here is a model of Soviet political thinking. It provides a backdrop for analysis of the culture that has emerged in the Soviet Union since the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. It provides some insight into the holistic thinking of Margaret Mead, anthropologist, at work dissecting the Soviet political anatomy.

"The Anglo-American idea of political compromise is based on the expectation of there being at least two sides to a question, so that a workable compromise represents a position somewhere between or among a series of positions each of which is sincerely believed in and stoutly defended. But the Bolshevik idea of the Line is more accurately represented by the figure of a lens which is correctly focused; there is only one correct focus for any given situation, and this is not seen as arrived at by tinding some mid-point between lens readings which are too open and those which are too closed; rather, all settings except the correct focus are seen as deviations from the single correct position." (SATA 15)

This analogy compares two fundamental ideas regarding political compromisee It establishes an important concept which must be clearly understood to enable someone to comprehend the difficulties of establishing a common ground between two great cultures existing today.