Developmental psychology and the postmodern child

Erica Burman

pp. 95-110

in: Joe Doherty, Elspeth Graham, Mo Malek (eds), Postmodernism and the social sciences, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1992

Abstract

In this chapter I shall address the current and possible areas of intersection between the discipline of developmental psychology and analyses of contemporary society that seek to understand the phenomena of postmodernism. I suggest that theorists of postmodernism must engage with, as well as comment upon, developmental psychology if they are to offer an effective critique, and that there are areas of developmental psychology which postmodern analyses need to take seriously if they are to fulfil a potential of providing critical instruments for change. I shall be discussing developmental psychology, and in particular Piagetian developmental psychology. My intention is not to confirm or reinstate its role but rather to focus on what are in fact pervasive debates about the status and function of postmodernism.