Culture in development

This chapter first summarizes early research on the role of culture in development, including Vygotsky’s, Bronfenbrenner’s and Erikson’s work, and studies of parental ethnotheories. Critical perspectives highlight Indigenous psychologies, social justice, and historical change in cultures and in developmental theorizing itself. Historical change is also relevant for cultural adaptation in the face of globalization, as addressed by Kağıtçıbaşı’s theorizing. A recent shift has occurred from cross-cultural towards cultural research, that sees culture not as ‘influencing’ development, but as being constitutive of it; we feature Rogoff’s and Hedegaard’s work. Examples are taken from cultures within Africa, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, India, North America and the Philippines. The chapter ends by considering calls for the decolonization of developmental psychology.