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Until the 70s and 80s anthropologists studying different cultures
had mainly confined themselves to the behaviour and idea systems of
adults. Psychologists, on the other hand, working mainly in Europe
and America, had studied child development in their own settings
and simply assumed the universality of their findings. Thus both
disciplines had largely ignored a crucial problem area: the way in
which children from birth onwards learn to become competent members
of their culture. This process, which has been called 'the
quintessential human adaptation', constitutes the theme of this
volume, originally published in 1988. It derives from a workshop
held at the London School of Economics which brought together
fieldworkers who in their studies had paid more than usual
attention to children in their cultures. Their experience and foci
of interest were varied but this very diversity serves to
illuminate different facets of the acquisition of culture by
children, ranging in age from pre-verbal infants to adolescents.
Evolutionarily primed for culture-learning, children are responsive
to a rich web of influences from subtle and indirect as in their
music and dance to direct teaching in the family guided by
culture-specific ideas about child psychology. Some of the salient
things they learn relate to gender, status and power, critical for
the functioning of all societies. The introductory essay provides
the necessary historical background of the development of child
study in both anthropology and psychology and outlined how future
research in the ethnography of childhood should proceed. The book
concludes with an annotated bibliography providing a guide to the
literature from 1970 onwards.
Until the 70s and 80s anthropologists studying different cultures
had mainly confined themselves to the behaviour and idea systems of
adults. Psychologists, on the other hand, working mainly in Europe
and America, had studied child development in their own settings
and simply assumed the universality of their findings. Thus both
disciplines had largely ignored a crucial problem area: the way in
which children from birth onwards learn to become competent members
of their culture. This process, which has been called 'the
quintessential human adaptation', constitutes the theme of this
volume, originally published in 1988. It derives from a workshop
held at the London School of Economics which brought together
fieldworkers who in their studies had paid more than usual
attention to children in their cultures. Their experience and foci
of interest were varied but this very diversity serves to
illuminate different facets of the acquisition of culture by
children, ranging in age from pre-verbal infants to adolescents.
Evolutionarily primed for culture-learning, children are responsive
to a rich web of influences from subtle and indirect as in their
music and dance to direct teaching in the family guided by
culture-specific ideas about child psychology. Some of the salient
things they learn relate to gender, status and power, critical for
the functioning of all societies. The introductory essay provides
the necessary historical background of the development of child
study in both anthropology and psychology and outlined how future
research in the ethnography of childhood should proceed. The book
concludes with an annotated bibliography providing a guide to the
literature from 1970 onwards.
In Images of Savages, the distinguished psychologist Gustav Jahoda advances the provocative thesis that racism and the perpetual alienation of a racialized 'other' are a central leagacy of the Western tradition. Finding the roots of these demonizations deep in the myth and traditions of classical antiquity, he examines how the monstrous humanoid creatures of ancient myth and the fabulous "wild men" of the medieval European woods shaped early modern explorers' interpretations of the New World they encountered. Drawing on a global scale the schematic of the Western imagination of its "others," Jahoda locates the persistent identification of the racialized other with cannibalism, sexual abandon and animal drives. Turning to Europe's scientific tradition, Jahoda traces this imagery through the work of 18th century scientists on the relationship between humans and apes, the new racist biology of the 19th century studies of "savagery" as an arrested evolutionary state, and the assignment, especially of blacks, to a status intermediate between humans and animals, or that of children in need of paternal protection from Western masters. Finding in these traditional tropes a central influence upon the most current psychological theory, Jahoda presents a startling historical continuity of racial figuration that persists right up to the present day. Far from suggesting a program for the eradication of racial stereotypes, this remarkable effort nevertheless isolates the most significant barriers to equality buried deep within the Western tradition, and proposes a potentially redemptive self-awareness that will contribute to the gradual dismantling of racial injustice and alienation. Gustav Jahoda demonstrates how deeply rooted Western perceptions going back more than a thousand years are still feeding racial prejudice today. This highly original socio-historical contextualisation will be invaluable to scholars of psychology, sociology and anthropology, and to all those interested in the sources of racial prejudice.
Related link: Free Email Alerting eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415179521
The term 'social psychology' was first established in the 1860s but
the issues surrounding the subject have evolved over a much longer
period. This book follows the history of the discipline over two
and a half centuries, demonstrating the links between early and
current thought. The first attempts at empirical approaches were
made in France during the Enlightenment whilst some modern ideas
were also being anticipated in Scotland. The search for laws of
mind and society began in nineteenth-century Europe and, by the end
of the century, it changed direction. Darwinian theory made a
powerful impact on the emerging discipline and the centre of
gravity began to move to America where it reached maturity during
the inter-war period. A History of Social Psychology is viewed
against a background of radical social and political changes and
includes sketches of the major figures involved in its rise.
The term 'social psychology' was first established in the 1860s but
the issues surrounding the subject have evolved over a much longer
period. This book follows the history of the discipline over two
and a half centuries, demonstrating the links between early and
current thought. The first attempts at empirical approaches were
made in France during the Enlightenment whilst some modern ideas
were also being anticipated in Scotland. The search for laws of
mind and society began in nineteenth-century Europe and, by the end
of the century, it changed direction. Darwinian theory made a
powerful impact on the emerging discipline and the centre of
gravity began to move to America where it reached maturity during
the inter-war period. A History of Social Psychology is viewed
against a background of radical social and political changes and
includes sketches of the major figures involved in its rise.
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