Story of Bali, Indonesia

Mead concluded that fear, instilled through child-rearing practices, is the basis of the Balinese character. However, as shown in , the authors disagree with this idea, as they do not regard any single emotion or combination of emotions as a valid basis of character. Furthermore, no child-rearing practices that might have a bearing on the basis of character have been identified. '17his, of course, does not preclude the possibility that child-rearing practices, and innate and biologically determined behavioural and emotional manifestations of child development, play roles in the transmission of culture. Child rearing in Bali could be a fruitful area of cross-cultural study.

A conceptualization and generalization of the basis of a cultural or national character is seldom attempted by anthropologists. However, aspects of Balinese culture that are so elemental and pervasive that they can be regarded as fundamental forces shaping behaviour and character have been described in this book. These forces have their roots in two basic interrelated systems: (a) the Balinese Hindu religion and, (b) the extended family, community (banjar) and ancestor system. They exert their effects in spite of the fact that most Balinese cannot explain the principles of the religion. Indeed, the majority of Balinese carry out the various rituals and ceremonies out of simple faith or as a matter of custom. Most ceremonies require community participation and this is willingly given because it is a means to acquire good social relationships.

MEAD characterized Bali as a culture without climax. Although Bateson and Mead did not explicitly define climax, they described sequences of mother-infant behavior in which there is 'a series of broken sequences of unreached climaxes'. The mother stimulates the child to show emotion 'only to turn away and break the thread, as the child in rising passion, makes a demand for some emotional response on her part'. Mead reported that from about 18 months, the mother teases the child repeatedly and 'the stimulus to this never-realized climax becomes more patterned and more intense'; the mother and others 'tease and tantalize while the child responds with mounting emotion which is invariably undercut before the climax'.' Later, the child begins to withdraw and continues a lifelong pattern of withdrawal of responsiveness. Bateson (1987) wrote, 'It is possible that some sort of continuing emotional plateau of intensity is substituted for climax as the child more fully adjusted to Balinese life.' Bateson and Mead also stated that'climax is absent from their sequences of love and hate.

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