'A powerful, integrative, and insightful theory of society.'-Jack Meacham, State University of New York, Buffalo This provocative work presents a unified and scientifically grounded new theory on the development of society, namely, that the imaginary play of children reflects an endogenous orientation toward the construction of society.
Introduction: Instituting Society: The Developmental Thesis.- I. The Evidence: Empirical Studies of Children’s Societal Grasp.- 1. Children Playing Society.- 2. Coconstructing Social Reality.- 3. Culture and Pretend Play: Zulu Children at Play.- 4. Peer Society.- 5. Peer Culture.- 6. Society and Speech-for-Self.- II. Supporting Evidence: Studies from Related Fields.- 7. Children Making History.- 8. Jacques Lacan on the Child’s Entry into the Symbolic Order.- 9. Communication and Society.- III. Theories of Society.- 10. Developmental Perspectives.- 11. Political Perspectives.- 12. Marxist Cultural Perspectives.- IV. Conclusion.- 13. The Grasp of Society.- 14. The Plot of the Mental Object Capacity: There Is More to Piaget’s Permanent Object Than Meets the Eye.- Postlude: The Nightmare of History.- References.
A powerful, integrative, and insightful theory of society. - Jack Meacham, State University of New York, Buffalo
