Erica Burman takes a fresh, critical look at developmental psychology and the gender and cultural assumptions that underpin much of the research on child development and parenting. Behaviourism, the child-centred approach, and the major theories of child language and learning, including those of Piaget and Bowlby, pathologise those individuals and groups who do not meet their idealised models. This book chellenges fundamental notions of childhood and child development.
Deconstructing Developmental Psychology is designed to accompany and comment upon conventional texts and will sharpen students' desire to examine the theories behind the facts which make up their courses. The book will appeal especially to all those who feel that developmental psychology produces an ideal which certain groups in society are unable to live up to.