Whose development are we talking about? Commentary on Deconstructing Developmental Psychology

• Published in: Feminism & psychology 2015-08, Vol.25 (3), p.402-407
• Main Author: O'Dell, Lindsay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0959-3535; 1461-7161
• DOI: 10.1177/0959353515578016

Erica Burman asks in Deconstructing Developmental Psychology, whose development privileged in developmental psychology and other disciplines, and whose development is therefore unaccounted for. Reflecting on Burman’s work, particularly on this question, has informed my research and teaching since I first read the book in 1994. In this short commentary, I discuss the impact of Burman’s theorising beyond her original focus on the development of young children and their relationships. I focus on how her work has informed research into understandings and representations of children and families who are for some reason considered to be ‘different’. I focus on three themes addressed in the book: the production of universal development and the ‘normal’ child, selective abstraction and the (im)possibility of singularised representations of traumatised children. I consider how Deconstructing Developmental Psychology has relevance to an understanding of children, young people and families’ lives and (beyond psychology as a discipline) to examine how dominant ideas of children’s development is implicated within national, and international policy and other public arenas that regulate lives of children and families.