Gregory Bateson

Who Was Gregory Bateson…

Gregory Bateson was originally from Grantchester, England. He was the third son of Beatrice Durham and geneticist William Bateson. Gregory studied at the Charterhouse School and went on to get his Bachelor's degree in the natural sciences in 1925 and his masters degree in 1930 in Anthropology (GoodTherapy, 2018) . Bateson initially took a job in Australia teaching Linguistics and then spent time in the Pacific Region doing anthropological work. Bateson was married a total of three times in his life, his first wife was Margaret Mead in 1936 and he did joint field work with her in his anthropological career. Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson had a daughter by the name of Mary Catherine Bateson, who grew up to become an anthropologist like her parents. After Mead and Bateson split up, Bateson married his second wife by the name of Elizabeth Sumner. With Elizabeth he had a son whom they named John Sumner Bateson. Bateson and Sumner divorced and he married his final wife Lois Cammack who was a social worker. Bateson and Cammack had a daughter by the name of Nora Bateson.

What was Gregory Bateson’s Anthropological Work…

As an anthropologist, social scientist and cyberneticist, Bateson was involved in many different fields. He left a lasting legacy within the world by his attempts to re-introduce the mind back into scientific equations. Bateson was known for incorporating systems of cultural behavior. Bateson spent time in lots of different locations as an anthropologist. He started his anthropological work in New Guinea with a goal to explore and learn about the contact between the Sepik natives and those outside the native group. Bateson was looking to see the major effects and impacts of the contact between these groups. He then worked with Mead and the two created anthropological films together with Bateson being in charge of the photography and Mead in charge of the field notes. (Weynand, 2016). The pair observed that unlike Western cultures who give their children attention when they show extreme emotions, the Mothers of Bali ignore their children in these situations. Together the films they created displayed Meads passion for specifics and Batesons style of observation.

Cybernetics in Ecological Anthropology...

One of the things Bateson is often remembered for is his theory of the double bind. Bateson and his research team articulated the idea of the Double Bind in California. This theory that Bateson articulated is shown as a theory taking a systematic perspective to discuss situations where an individual receives conflicting messages. (ExploringYourMind, 2018). The theory of the double bind was used to help determine the roots of schizophrenia. The double bind is looking at issues where you receive conflicting messages, especially observed in kids or those with underdeveloped mental capacity. Bateson observed the world as a series of systems that are composed of societies, ecosystems and individuals and each system is dependent on one another and competition. Each system is also adaptive to change and dependant on feedback and balance. The double bind paired with Bateson’s ideas and approach on life help to show the way that Bateson thought and acted in his connections between natural sciences, humanities, social sciences and anthropology.

Works Cited...

Bateson, M. C. (2001). With a daughter's eye: a memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. Perennial.

Capra, F. (2018, November 14). Gregory Bateson. The International Bateson Institute. https://batesoninstitute.org/gregory-bateson/.

Chaney, A. (2017). Runaway: Gregory Bateson, the double bind, and the rise of ecological consciousness. The University of North Carolina press.

An Ecology of Mind. THE FILM. http://www.anecologyofmind.com/thefilm.html.

Gaia. Gregory Bateson. http://www.environment.gen.tr/biographies/546-gregory-bateson.html.

Gregory Bateson. Monoskop. (2019, August 20). https://monoskop.org/Gregory_Bateson.

Gregory Bateson. The Institute for Intercultural Studies: Gregory Bateson: Biography. http://www.interculturalstudies.org/Bateson/biography.html.

Gregory Bateson's Double Bind Theory. Exploring your mind. (2018, August 7). https://exploringyourmind.com/gregory-batesons-double-bind-theory/.

Harries-Jones, P. (2016). Introduction A Search for Pattern. In Upside-down gods: Gregory Bateson's world of difference(pp. 1–8). essay, Fordham University Press.

Parks, T. (2020, November 4). Gregory Bateson changed the way we think about changing ourselves – Tim Parks: Aeon Essays. Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/gregory-bateson-changed-the-way-we-think-about-changing-ourselves.

Team, G. T. E. (2011, November 11). Gregory Bateson (1904-1980). Gregory Bateson Biography. https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/gregory-bateson.html.

Weynand, J. K. (2016, September 8). Margaret Mead & Gregory Bateson. Visual Anthropology. https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/visualanthropology/2016/09/08/margaret-mead-gregory-bateson/