Book description
Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice, and Group Identity
explores the origins of prejudice and the emergence of morality to
explain why children include some and exclude others.
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Formulates an original theory about children's experiences with
exclusion and how they understand the world of discrimination
based on group membership
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Brings together Social Domain Theory and Social Identity Theory
to explain how children view exclusion that often results in
prejudice, and inclusion that reflects social justice and morality
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Presents new research data consisting of in-depth interviews
from childhood to late adolescence, observational findings with
peer groups, and experimental paradigms that test how children
understand group dynamics and social norms, and show either group
bias or morality
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Illustrates data with direct quotes from children along with
diagrams depicting their social understanding
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Presents new insights about the origins of prejudice and group
bias, as well as morality and fairness, drawn from extensive
original data
Melanie Killen
is Professor of Human Development, Professor of Psychology (Affiliate),
and Associate Director for the Center for Children, Relationships, and
Culture at the University of Maryland. She is a Fellow of both the
American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological
Science. She is also a recipient of the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Award by the Provost from the University of Maryland. Her book with Dan
Hart,
Morality in Everyday Life: Developmental Perspectives
(1995), received the outstanding book award from AERA, and her book with
Sheri Levy,
Intergroup Attitudes and Relations from Childhood to Adulthood
, received an Honorable Mention for the Otto Klineberg Memorial Prize
from SPSSI. Her research examines the development of morality,
intergroup attitudes, exclusion and inclusion, peer relationships,
prejudice, culture, and how social experience is related to
social-cognitive development.
Adam Rutland is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the
Child Development Unit and Centre for the Study of Group Processes in
the School of Psychology at the University of Kent. Previously he has
been a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of
Surrey and been a member of Faculty at the University of Aberdeen. His
research examines the development of children's prejudice and social
identities. He has conducted recent research into when and how
children learn to self-present their explicit attitudes; how
intergroup contact can reduce children's prejudice; children's
exclusion of peers within groups and acculturation amongst ethnic
minority children.
