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Chapter 22 - A “Skin in the Game” Scaffolded Career Path

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2022

By
Margaret Beale Spencer
Edited by
Jamila Bookwala  and
Nicky J. Newton
Jamila Bookwala
Affiliation:
Lafayette College, Pennsylvania
Nicky J. Newton
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario
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Summary

This chapter is a reflection on some of the major personal and professional forces that shaped the trajectory of my five-decade-plus career in developmental science. In particular, it emphasizes my humanity-accentuating research focus and its ongoing development and implementation via one of my principal professional contributions: Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST). A life course theory of human development, it posits the universality of vulnerability as well as myriad, culturally linked, and contextually relevant opportunities for resiliency as one copes with the tasks of development and learning. I discuss this perspective as it relates to my own life and career in the academy. Additionally, I recount my ongoing struggles against scholarly traditions that fail to acknowledge or respect others’ humanity and ignore both the pathology of structured inequality and the normal and varied expressions of human processes for culturally diverse individuals – particularly people of color – observed throughout the world.

Type
Chapter
Information
Reflections from Pioneering Women in Psychology , pp. 280 - 293
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Allen, W. R., Spencer, M. B., & Brookins, G. K. (1985). Synthesis: Black children keep on growing. In Spencer, M. B., Brookins, G. K. & Allen, W. R. (Eds.), Beginnings: The social and affective development of Black children (pp. 301–314). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
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Myrdal, G. (1944). An American dilemma: The Negro problem and modern democracy. New York, NY: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Spencer, M. B. (1970). The effects of systematic social (puppet) and token reinforcement on the modification of racial and color concept attitudes in preschool aged children. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Kansas, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Spencer, M. B. (1985). Cultural cognition and social cognition as identity factors in Black children’s personal social growth. In Spencer, M. B., Brookins, G. K. & Allen, W. R. (Eds.), Beginnings: The social and affective development of Black children (pp. 215–230). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Spencer, M. B. (1995). Old issues and new theorizing about African American youth: A phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory. In Taylor, R. L. (Ed.), African-American youth: Their social and economic status in the United States (pp. 37–69). Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Spencer, M. B. (2008). Phenomenology and ecological systems theory: Development of diverse groups. In Damon, W. and Lerner, R. M. (Eds.), Child and adolescent development: An advanced course (pp. 696–735). New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
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Spencer, M. B., & Dowd, N. E. (2022). Radical brown: Keeping the promise to America’s children. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.Google Scholar
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Spencer, M. B., Lodato, B. N., Spencer, C., Rich, L., Graziul, C., & English-Clarke, T. (2019). Innovating resilience promotion: Integrating cultural practices, social ecologies and development-sensitive conceptual strategies for advancing child well-being. In Henry, D. A., Votruba-Drzal, E., and Miller, P. (Eds.), Advances in child development and behavior (vol. 57, pp. 101–148). doi:10.1016/bs.acdb.2019.05.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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