Social Change and Human Development

Rainer K. Silbereisen was Professor and Head of the Department of Developmental Psychology at the University of Jena (Germany), Adjunct Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University (USA), and is currently Director of the Center for Applied Developmental Science (CADS). He is Fellow of the American Psychological Association and Member of the European Academy of Sciences (London). He was Editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development and of the journal European Psychologist. He was Chair of the Board of the German Social Science Infrastructure Services (GESIS), is a former President of the German Psychological Society and of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD). He was until recently President of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) and is now Past-President. A psychologist by training, he has been involved in interdisciplinary large scale research on human development across the life-span, and in particular on the role of social change in positive and maladaptive human development, utilizing a cross-cultural and biopsychosocial format. With the help of private foundations, he has established training programs for young investigators from developing countries. He has edited about 20 books and published more than 250 scholarly articles.

• PART ONE: INTRODUCTIONHow Social Change Affects Individual Adaptation - Rainer K Silbereisen and Xinyin Chen PART TWO: DYNAMIC OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSES - Steffen SchmidtA Challenge-Response-Model in Research on Social ChangeLife Management in Developmental Settings of Modernity - Jochen BrandtstädterChallenges to the Adaptive SelfConceptualizing the Dynamics of Lives and Historical Times - Ross Macmillan and Arturo BaiocchiLife-Course Phenomena, Institutional Dynamics and Socio-Historical ChangePART THREE: DETERMINANTS ON THE INDIVIDUAL LEVELGlobalization, Institutional Filters and Changing Life-Course - Dirk Hofäcker et alPatterns in Modern SocietiesDemands of Social Change and Psychosocial Adjustment - Rainer K Silbereisen et alGlobalization, Social Inequality and Individual Agency in Human Development - Jutta HeckhausenSocial Change for Better or Worse?PART FOUR: TRANSITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVEInstitutional Responses to Social Change in Comparative Perspective - Reinhold SackmannClass, Stratification and Personality under Conditions of Apparent Social Stability and of Radical Social Change - Melvin L KohnChildren′s Socio-Emotional Functioning and Adjustment in the Changing Chinese Society - Xinyin Chen and Hiuchang ChenSocial Change and Premarital Sexual Behaviour and Attitudes in Vietnam - Rukmalie Jayakody et alSocial Change and Transition Experiences among Young Adults in Britain - Ingrid SchoonPolitical Elites as an Agent of Social Change - Jacek WasilewskiThe Polish Perspective