Recently, we have seen important changes in the conceptualization of human development in psychology, sociology, and anthropology. In general, these changes involve a greater focus on children's agency, more concern for the importance of social and cultural context, and agreement that children's experiences beyond their early years in the family (especially their interactions and experiences with peers) are in need of more careful theoretical consideration and empirical research. Also, at least in sociology and anthropology, there is recognition that children both affect and are affected by society and culture. This recognition has increased the appreciation of the creativity and autonomy of children's peer cultures and the awareness that the nature and quality of children's lives, even in their first years, is enriched or constrained by power relations and social policies in the cultures in which they live (Corsaro & Fingerson, 2003).

Although some aspects of children's peer relations and cultures may be universal, the way these aspects are developed and manifested, and other features of children's cultures, are clearly affected by the larger cultural context in which they develop (Corsaro, 1988, 1994, 2005; Corsaro, Molinari, & Rosier, 2002). Therefore, in studying children's peer relations, it is necessary to take a comparative perspective and to attempt to identify how key processes in children's peer cultures both affect and are affected by the larger cultural structures and processes within which they are embedded.

In introducing this volume the editors argue for the need to focus directly on the processes or mechanisms of development and to document how and why these processes may vary across cultural, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups. I feel these are laudable goals and would argue that we need new methodological practices to reach them. I have discussed elsewhere (Corsaro, 1993) the promise of comparative, longitudinal ethnography for studying productive–reproductive processes in children's lives. While I have relied on and see great potential in the use of ethnographic methods for studying socialization (or “interpretive reproduction,” Corsaro, 1992), I believe a range of methods are appropriate for the study of developmental processes. However, whatever methods are employed are best placed in a general research program or agenda that is longitudinal and ethnohistorical, multilevel, and cross–cultural.

Longitudinal research, whether quantitative or qualitative, is important because it allows for a direct focus on the nature and results of changes in children's lives as they move through key developmental and transition periods. All three of the chapters I have been asked to comment on have at least some longitudinal features in their research designs.

The chapter by Beth Kurtz–Costes, Rona McCall, and Wolfgang Schneider on acculturation (Chapter 6) offers the most traditional and extensive longitudinal design of the three. As the authors note, it is surprising that there have been so few longitudinal studies of acculturation.

Introduction

There has been a definite trend in theoretical work on human development towards the acceptance of what has been termed a constructivist approach. This view, which is most often associated with the theoretical work of Piaget (1968), stresses the active role of the child, arguing that children interpret, organise and use information from the environment and, in the process, construct mature skills and knowledge. Although these developments are clearly in the right direction, they still cling to what Harré (1986) referred to as the doctrine of individualism.

An adherence to individualism is evident in two respects. First, understanding of children's interactions remains at an interpersonal level; interpersonal alignments (for example, adult–child versus peer) are contrasted to show how they differentially affect individual development. But how interpersonal relations reflect cultural systems, or how children, through their participation in communicative events, become part of and collectively reproduce these interpersonal relations and cultural patterns is not seriously considered. Second, the adherence to individualism is also seen in the overwhelming concern with the endpoint of development, or the movement from immaturity to adult competence. For example, work on social cognition focusses on identifying stages in the abstract conception of friendship. Children's conceptions are elicited through clinical interviews and their underdeveloped conceptions are compared to those of competent adults (Selman, 1980; Youniss, 1980). Yet, few scholars study what it is like to be or have a friend in children's social words or how developing conceptions of friendship get embedded in peer culture.