This book covers issues ranging from the status of psychology as a science in the majority world to policy implications that can be derived from it in the form of intervention programs. Within this range from theoretical to practical applications are issues concerning the relation between culture and parenting, self-development in a cultural context, and effects of social change on family and gender roles, which all are among the core concerns of the discipline of human development as well as the cultural perspective. The chapters explore these issues either by comparing the western world with the majority world, or focus on a single culture from the latter. Thus the book addresses questions of interest for developmental psychologists, cross-cultural psychologists, community psychologists, intervention researchers, and policy makers in life span education.

A major reason for putting together this book was to present the state of the art from the perspectives of the western and majority world contributors to the study of culture and development. A second motivation was to recognize the developments that have taken place in this area in the majority world, and particularly in Turkey. One of the driving forces in this development has been Çiğdem Kağıtçıbaşı, who has undertaken significant cross-cultural research and posited theoretical models of self-development and family change. Her work has provided an alternative to the models prevalent in the western world by showing that urbanization and socio-economic development need not necessarily have a single outcome in the form of an autonomous–separate–self.