Critical Theories of Psychological Development e-bog

Something instructive occurred in the process of entitling the present collection. Both editor and publisher sought a simple and succinct rubric for the various pieces of work. But they rapidly and reluctantly reached the consensus that, by either intellectual or marketing criteria, the inser- tion of the adjective "e;psychological"e; to qualify the noun "e;development"e; was a communicative necessity. Much to the chagrin of the develop- mental psychologist, the term development still connotes-to the world at large as well as the general community of publishers, librarians, and computer archivists-the modernization of nation states. Inside and outside the university, I find that, when asked, "e;What are you in- terested in?"e; I am not at liberty to reply, "e;The concept of development,"e; without being absorbed immediately into a discussion of Third World studies. The approach of the present volume should be taken as an exhortation to psychologists to take the genealogy of "e;development' seriously. The history of the discipline is not so different from the histo- ry of the word and, as we shall discover, the concern with developmen- tal progress cannot easily be separated from the urge for dominion. 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.