Development as Action in Changing Contexts: Perspectives from Six Countries

Author(s): Rainer K. Silbereisen and Martin J. Tomasik

Source: Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, Vol. 35, No. 2 (132),Transitions — Transformations: Trajectories of Social, Economic and Political Change afterCommunism / Transitionen — Transformationen: Trajektorien des sozialen, wirtschaftlichenund politischen Wandels nach dem Kommunismus (2010), pp. 57-75

Abstract

This paper reviews five recent contributions that empirically investigate the interaction between changing socio-historical contexts and individual adaptation and development. The contributions by John Bynner, Rand Conger and colleagues, Cigdem Kagitcibasi, Jungsik Kim and colleagues and Ingrid Schoon are discussed against the backdrop of a generic model of social change and human development. It is argued that research on social change has to consider the larger political and social context and needs to identify and to study conditions that represent the processes of macro-micro-interaction. Such research will not only enrich the scientific inquiry in this field and promote theorizing about development-in-context, but also is of relevance for social policies in times of rapid social change.

Development as Action in Changing Contexts Perspectives from Six Countries