Critical theories of psychological development

Abstract

This volume presents a selection from the recent critical scholarship on psychological development. The emphasis is on rethinking the field of developmental psychology at the level of theory. The selection of work presented here has been made according to a number of criteria. First, writing was sought that showed some philosophical understanding. A second criterion was that the work should express clearly a political vision of development. However, there was a third concern that the book not be limited to political critiques. Instead, it was designed to explore a range of orientations to development as a discipline and as an object of policy Fourth, it was stipulated that the work should focus on the constitutive role of society and history, not just their influence on developmental processes. Fifth, and closely linked to the last requirement, it was expected that the critiques should do more than pay the usual lip service to "socio-historical context." This sixth requirement implied a seventh. The interest in critical approaches was taken to require a responsibility on the part of the authors to be critical not only about mainstream psychology but also about the so-called "critical" approaches themselves. Last but not least, there needed to be a specific obsession with development in the work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: preface)