We argue for the importance of keeping a focus on the dynamically coordinated functioning of multifaceted cultural practices for investigating cultural aspects of human development. Although some research projects benefit from focusing on specific aspects of cultural functioning, it should be with the recognition that segmentation into ''variables’ is for the sake of analysis rather than assumed necessarily to reflect the reality of the phenomena that we study. The portfolio of research on cultural aspects of human development needs to include analyses that focus more broadly on the historically changing constellation of cultural practices in which individuals participate, even as other studies examine specific aspects as if they were freestanding variables. We illustrate this argument with research suggesting that middle-class European American adults’ ways of interacting with children can be illuminated by seeing their practices as an aspect of a somewhat coordinated historical, cultural system. Cultural analyses that focus on coordinated, multifaceted practices can help us understand human development in the context of people’s participation in pervasive cultural institutions such as schooling and societal changes such as industrialization. For the research portfolio to develop a comprehensive approach to investigating coordinated patterns in cultural aspects of human development, we need a more open-minded respect for a variety of approaches to cultural research than is sometimes found within disciplines.

Keywords:
Age segregation, Cultural communities, Cultural processes, Historical processes, Middle-class culture, Schooling
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2002
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