Publisher's Synopsis
Responding to the need for more research into socioculturalinfluences on ideas about children, this volume analyzes data fromAmerica, Japan, Columbia, Israel and the Netherlands to explorevariations within and between cultures in how parents, teachers andothers think about children. With a particular focus on thedichotomy between individualism and collectivism , the contributorsexamine such questions as: Can variability in ideas about childrenbest be conceptualized in terms of universal categories, or is eachsocially constructed concept of the child unique? At what sociallevel can these variations best be identified on a global, West vs.East level, or between classes and cultural groups withinindividual societies, or between social groups at the communitylevel? And how are these varying socially constructed images of thechild expressed?
This is the 87th issue of the quarterly journal NewDirections for Child and Adolescent Development.
