Children's Understanding of Society

A state-of-the-art review of the research in this area, this collection covers children's understanding of family, school, economics, race, politics and gender roles. Recent changes and trends in research are summarised. This is explained in terms of a progression from the Piagetian stages model of development to the current emphasis on socially-mediated sources of information, socio-cultural context and children's own naiive theories about societal phenomena. Bringing together some of the most prominent and active researchers in this field this volume presents an advanced overview of developments in this under-represented area of social psychology. M. Barrett, E. Buchanan-Barrow, Emergent themes in the study of children’s understanding of society. E. Buchanan-Barrow, Children’s understanding of the school . P. Webley, Children’s understanding of economics . A.E. Berti, Children’s understanding of politics . S.J. Ceci, F.A. Markle, Y.J. Chae, Children’s understanding of the law and legal processes . K. Durkin, Children’s understanding of gender roles in society . N. Elmer, J. Dickinson, Children’s understanding of social class and occupational groupings . L.A. Hirschfield, Children’s understanding of racial groups . A.L. Coco, C. Inguglia, U. Pace, Children’s understanding of ethnic belonging and the development of ethnic attitudes . M. Barrett, Children’s understanding of, and feelings about, countries and national groups . G. Hatano, K. Takahashi, The development of social cognition: A commentary .