Comparisons in human development

de Jonathan Tudge, Michael J. Shanahan, Jaan Valsiner

This important volume deals with the challenges posed by comparative strategies in human development, challenges that reflect the dynamic and multilevel nature of development. Comparative strategies represent basic heuristic tools for studying the change and stability of both people and their environments. Yet developmentalists make comparisons that focus on the magnitude of differences between groups (based, for example, on age or gender), often neglecting issues of variability and process. Comparisons in Human Development examines the problems and promise of comparisons in the study of development and provides empirical examples of diverse comparative approaches to human activity and thought.