Development of the Social Self

<p>Drawing upon the perspective of social identity theory <em>The Development of the Social Self </em>is concerned with the acquisition and development of children's social identities. In contrast to previous work on self-development which has focused primarily on the development of the personal self this volume makes a case for the importance of the study of the social self - that is the self as defined through group memberships such as gender ethnicity and nationality. <br><br>A broad range of identity-related issues are addressed such as ingroup identification conceptions of social identities prejudice and the central role of social context. Based on contributions from leading researchers in Europe Australia and the US the book summarises the major research programmes conducted to date. Furthermore the closing chapters provide commentary on this research as well as mapping out key directions for future research. <br><br>With a unique focus encompassing both social and developmental psychology <em>The Development of the Social Self </em>will appeal to a broad spectrum of students and researchers in both disciplines as well as those working in related areas such as sociology and child development.</p>