This emphasis on identifying predictable developmental milestones and patterns of growth has tended to divert attention from fundamental issues about identity that continue to have profound implications for the study of human development and the related fields of psychology and human services, as well as the humanities. These issues have emerged as central themes in the history of Western ideas.

Gericault’s painting, “The Raft of Medusa” depicted an actual event where 149 civilians were left at sea by their captain. The news created social outrage. The raft was overcrowded and those on it grew hostile. The strong bullied the weak and killed many. Several passengers committed suicide while others were reported to resort to cannibalism. Fifteen days later, the raft was discovered with only fifteen survivors.

These issues create no end of discussion, at times promote controversy, and continue to shape the intellectual discussion of those working in the field of human development. Issues such as these will be examined in more detail and depth with the goal of exploring their historical and intellectual origins within Western Civilization and their continuing expression in current controversies within contemporary thought and research.

Our goal is to help students become more informed and critical participants in current ideas in human development and all areas to which it pertains, including the behavioral and social sciences. Holding on to categories such as gender, race, class, and culture will help us hold the multiplicities of human development within one frame. Western civilization, as we know it now, has been shaped by diverse and frequently conflicting ideas we have inherited from the past.

These issues are not simply academic but have far-reaching consequences in the policies and practices that are adopted and implemented by today’s educators, clinicians, social workers, and criminologists. For example:

Will better schools and more opportunities make our society more equitable and our citizens more equal? Or would “leveling the playing field” actually promote more inequality as the innate differences among individuals emerge more clearly and individuals compete with one another to assert their dominance?

Are men and women basically alike—or basically different? What are the costs of casting men and women in clear-cut categories? How have recent movements towards gender rights impacted our society more broadly?

Do we have too much freedom in our lives—or too little? Should society try to suppress and constrain our appetites and passions because they are essentially selfish and socially destructive? Or is society too repressive, and does it unnecessarily inhibit human growth and expression? Should some groups be granted more freedoms because they are considered better able to handle those rights (for example, the educated vs. the uneducated, landowners vs. non-landowners).

Is our approach to child-rearing too harsh or too permissive? To what degree should all children be taught the same “canon”? Does the education of some groups need to be different than the education of other groups?

With the rise of nationalism in Europe and the United States, debate is increasing about who has the right to live, work, vote, and participate in society and benefit from its opportunities. What rights should be given to immigrants, and under what circumstances?

These are just some of the questions that we, as a society, have struggled with, or are now struggling with. In this course, we will explore how our identities inform these issues.