Children’s growth and development is influenced by a number of psycho-sociological factors, most of which can be depicted using psycho-social theories. There are two major theories that attempt to explain psycho-social development of children. These include: Psycho-analytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud and Psycho-social theory by Erick Erickson. The two theories hold a strong controversy over each other. In the light of this controversy, the article “Growing Up in Society – A Historical Social Psychology of Childhood” (Gabriel, 2017) attempted to explain the extent to which the insights of the three influential psychologists of the 20 th century are integrated into the principles of these classical theories of social development. These psychologists whose work has been investigated in this article include Nobert Elias, Pierre Felix Bourdieu, and Erich Seligman Fromm. In this paper, there is a summary of the article under review followed by highlighting its major findings and conclusions. Next, the paper critically reflects upon the strengths and weaknesses of the articles and suggests further areas of research that would lead to a more refined explanation of children’s social development.
Summary of the Article
The article is a comprehensive development of a historical socio-psychology that is applicable in the understanding the social and psychological functioning of young children. The main part of the study comprises of a robust comparison of the theoretical frameworks of the top influential psychologists of the 20 th century who are widely considered relational thinkers of their time. Norbert Elias’ work is focused on the underlying relationship between behavior, knowledge, emotion and power over a marked period of time. According to the article, Elias’ work is the most consistent and relational based on its ease of articulation of individuals and their social functioning and relatedness in the context of their society.
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Pierre Felix Bourdieu on the other hand, presents work that largely comprises of both sociology and traditional work which was undertaken for the purposes of enriching his own sociological development theory. He emphasized on the role of symbolic systems and the relevance of domination in the social aspects of life. He also insisted on the importance of social orders. Bourdieu’s work is essentially aimed at transcending various oppositions which he asserts are characteristic to the area of social sciences. In so doing, Bourdieu developed the concepts of capital, habitus and field with the ultimate aim of overcoming oppositions.
Lastly, Erich Seligman Fromm is the proponent of relational psychoanalysis which holds the view that individuals are socially related to their society in many ways. He believed that the progress of man choosing can find a distinct unity if all of his forces are developed to produce three orientations namely; love for humanity and nature, biophilia, and freedom and independence.
Of the three theorists, Gabriel (2017) argues that Elias is the most consistent given his ability to effectively articulate highly nuanced concepts which fully depicts children in the context of their social habitus. The focal point of Elias is the relations between learning and love.
Relevance of the Study and Its Strengths
The study is relevant in many ways which are important and applicable to the practices of nurturing children in the context of the society. To begin with, the study uses a comparative approach to look into underlying principles to the psycho-social development of children. As opposed to a fixed directional studies that somehow look at child’s social development from a single perspective and derives all conclusions based on that perspective, this study is objective in scope. For this reason, the study is applicable in the contemporary society despite the three focal theorists having developed their work in the 20 th century.
The study also investigates a child as a member of the society by using psycho-social perspectives that are in conformity with the classical psycho-social development theories namely; Sigmund Freud’s Psycho-analytic theory and psycho-social development theory by Erick Erickson. According to Shor (2017), the two theories are considered classical in the field of social psychology and thus, any new or alternative theory should be viewed in the perspective of these two.
Lastly, the study by Gabriel (2017) is a comprehensive study based on imperial evidence from multiple fields including the field of anthropology, religion and sociology. However, the study focuses exclusively on the aspect of the child’s functioning in the broader society. This makes it easier to understand multiple sociological influences on child’s social development as well as other aspects of child development in the context of the society.
Weaknesses of the Study
In the article, a significant proportion of the information being referenced is secondary rather than primary data. Very few primary sources have been referenced if any. According to Johnston (2017), the role of secondary sources of data is mainly to supplement the primary data referenced especially if primary sources are insufficient. The main implication in this sense is the differential nature of the timelines of the studies done to provide information used in this study. Additionally, since the information used in this study comprises majorly of the author’s own subjective opinion about the three conflicting theories, the author might have possibly ignored the role of other factors such as the influence of humanity and nature as well as freedom and independence in influencing child’s psychosocial wellbeing. However, since the study is qualitative in nature, this subjective approach is justified.
Recommendations for Further Studies
Based on the findings of this study, the best approach to explaining psycho-social development of children is to depict child social development in the context of their social habitus. The focal point should be relations between learning and love. However, there is need for a more comprehensive approach to depicting children’s social development apart from just looking at them from the perspective of a few relational aspects identified by Elias.
Further research should also focus on investigating the underlying relationship between social development and other aspects of development including but not limited to emotional development, intellectual development, language development, physical development and emotional development among other pertinent aspects of child’s wellbeing. This is because no single developmental aspect of a child functions independently. According to Black et. al., (2017) , nurturing a child in one aspect should also aim at enabling a child to develop holistically.
Conclusion
In summary, the study entitled “ Growing Up in Society: A Historical Social Psychology of Childhood” by Gabriel (2017) focuses on comparing the three major approaches to child’s social development. The three theorists given attention in this study include Nobert Elias, Pierre Felix Bourdieu and Erich Seligman Fromm. Each one of these theorists attempts to analyze and explain social development in relation to specific aspects within the society. Although each one of the explanations posited by the three proponents holds some truth, the extent to which they depict social development is significantly different. According to the author, the most succinct and relevant explanation of child social functioning is Nobert Elias with the aspect of social habitus and its role in creating relations about love and learning. However, other theories are nevertheless relevant. Generally, the study regards several sociological factors in explaining social development which is one greatest advantage it has. However, reliance on secondary sources is the major shortcoming of the study. In future, studies depicting children from a holistic point of view would be relevant in complementing this study.
References
Black, M. M., Walker, S. P., Fernald, L. C., Andersen, C. T., DiGirolamo, A. M., Lu, C., ... & Devercelli, A. E. (2017). Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. The Lancet , 389 (10064), 77-90.
Gabriel, N. (2017). Growing Up in Society – A Historical Social Psychology of Childhood. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, 42 (4), 207-226.
Johnston, M. P. (2017). Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries , 3 (3), 619-626.
Shor, R. E. (2017). Hypnosis: Developments in research and new perspectives . Routledge.
