Theoretical Issues in Psychology is published as the discipline of psychology enters its (at least) third century. The year 2001 brings with it millennial reflections, as well as the strange sense of deja vu that we derive from the Kubrick movie. As to the former, a glance at the contents list of this volume will demonstrate both the maturity and the vigour of theoretical debate within psychology. There is a level of sophistication here that should be the cause of quiet celebration. Recent ideas about discursive practice and subjectivity, chaos theory and autopoiesis, are effortlessly entrained with classical issues. Canonical texts are looked at with fresh eyes. Unresolved social and political questions are doggedly persisted with, and new perspectives on the human experience are pioneered. We are not afraid of long words, even if French in origin, but nor are we afraid to recognise that we are physical beings who touch other beings, who hold, desire, and remember - and who talk, talk, talk. For surely it is theoretically-sensitive work in psychology - whether "critical" or not - that best represents what the discipline has to offer the wider community.

Originally published in 1996, and now with a new preface, Growing Critical is an introduction to critical psychology, focusing on development. It takes a fresh look at infancy, childhood and adulthood and makes the startling claim that ‘development’ does not exist. John R. Morss guides the reader from the early critical movements of the 1970s which gave rise to the ‘social construction of development’ through the wide range of more recent approaches. He looks in turn at Vygotsky’s ‘social context of development’, Harré’s ‘social constructionism’, Marxist critique of developmental psychology, psychoanalytic interpretations of development, and finally post-structuralist approaches following Foucault and Derrida. He surveys the range of alternative positions in the critical psychology of development and evaluates the achievements of Newman and Holzman, Broughton, Tolman, Walkerdine and others. Marxism, psychoanalysis and post-structuralism – as well as such movements as feminism – challenge our understanding of human development. Morss looks beyond the laboratory to Marx and Freud, to Lacan and Foucault. What sets Growing Critical apart from orthodox psychology is the seriousness with which he has thought through the implications of these challenges. Contemporary and ‘reader-friendly’, Growing Critical will be of value to both undergraduate and advanced students, as well as to anyone interested in human development, in psychology, sociology or education.

This book is concerned with how we can make sense of the confusing landscape of individualistic explanation in international law. Arguing that international law lacks the vocabulary to deal with the collective dimension and therefore perpetuates an individualistic vocabulary, the book develops and articulates a more appropriate collective approach for public international law. In doing so, it reframes longstanding problems such as the conflict between self-determination and the integrity of states and the effects and the limits of state sovereignty in an increasingly globalized world. Presenting fresh perspectives on a range of contemporary issues in international law, the book draws on the work of major contributors to legal and political theory.

This book is concerned with how we can make sense of the confusing landscape of individualistic explanation in international law. Arguing that international law lacks the vocabulary to deal with the collective dimension and therefore perpetuates an individualistic vocabulary, the book develops and articulates a more appropriate collective approach for public international law. In doing so, it reframes longstanding problems such as the conflict between self-determination and the integrity of states and the effects and the limits of state sovereignty in an increasingly globalized world. Presenting fresh perspectives on a range of contemporary issues in international law, the book draws on the work of major contributors to legal and political theory.

Originally published in 1990, this book looks at the history of developmental psychology in order to locate and evaluate the role played by biology in its most influential formulations. First Charles Darwin's own writings on child development are examined. It is shown that Darwin endorsed such ideas as the 'recapitulation' of evolutionary ancestry in the developing child, even though this is inconsistent with his natural selection theory. The first great developmentalists - Hall, Baldwin, Freud - adopted and applied these non-Darwinian evolutionist ideas. The next generation - Vygotsky, Piaget, Werner - applied similar ideas in a variety of ways. Alongside this evolutionism, but interconnected with it, sensationist/empiricist forms of epistemology were directing developmentalists (from Rousseau onwards) to see the child as having to work himself out of sense-bound experience - to develop further and further from the 'here-and-now'. Contemporary developmental theory retains these influences: biological approaches (ethological, psychobiological) remain pre-Darwinian in spirit; lifespan theories remain attached to biology; formal/cognitive approaches remain attached to sensationism. 'Social context' approaches are rather half-hearted, and it is only the social-constructionist orientation which seems to offer a real alternative to biology. Major conclusions are stated in chapter ten, which includes a re-evaluation of Darwin's role.

Theoretical Issues in Psychology is published as the discipline of psychology enters its (at least) third century. The year 2001 brings with it millennial reflections, as well as the strange sense of deja vu that we derive from the Kubrick movie. As to the former, a glance at the contents list of this volume will demonstrate both the maturity and the vigour of theoretical debate within psychology. There is a level of sophistication here that should be the cause of quiet celebration. Recent ideas about discursive practice and subjectivity, chaos theory and autopoiesis, are effortlessly entrained with classical issues. Canonical texts are looked at with fresh eyes. Unresolved social and political questions are doggedly persisted with, and new perspectives on the human experience are pioneered. We are not afraid of long words, even if French in origin, but nor are we afraid to recognise that we are physical beings who touch other beings, who hold, desire, and remember - and who talk, talk, talk. For surely it is theoretically-sensitive work in psychology - whether "critical" or not - that best represents what the discipline has to offer the wider community.

Originally published in 1990, this book looks at the history of developmental psychology in order to locate and evaluate the role played by biology in its most influential formulations. First Charles Darwin's own writings on child development are examined. It is shown that Darwin endorsed such ideas as the 'recapitulation' of evolutionary ancestry in the developing child, even though this is inconsistent with his natural selection theory. The first great developmentalists - Hall, Baldwin, Freud - adopted and applied these non-Darwinian evolutionist ideas. The next generation - Vygotsky, Piaget, Werner - applied similar ideas in a variety of ways. Alongside this evolutionism, but interconnected with it, sensationist/empiricist forms of epistemology were directing developmentalists (from Rousseau onwards) to see the child as having to work himself out of sense-bound experience - to develop further and further from the 'here-and-now'. Contemporary developmental theory retains these influences: biological approaches (ethological, psychobiological) remain pre-Darwinian in spirit; lifespan theories remain attached to biology; formal/cognitive approaches remain attached to sensationism. 'Social context' approaches are rather half-hearted, and it is only the social-constructionist orientation which seems to offer a real alternative to biology. Major conclusions are stated in chapter ten, which includes a re-evaluation of Darwin's role.