Gender research is currently one of the most active and dynamic areas in
developmental and social psychology. Since the early 1970s there has been a
tremendous increase in the understanding of gender and gender-related
phenomena. The advances that have been made in theory and methodology,
as well as the insights gained from myriads of empirical studies, are
undoubtedly impressive. Yet, from its inception, the field has remained
fragmented, making developmental and social psychological approaches to
gender look like artificial divisions of a common subject matter. What's
even worse, the relation between both psychological subdisciplines at times
resembles well-documented effects of in-group/out-group differentiation:
New approaches, concepts, and findings presented by in-group members are
received with approval, whereas similarly important contributions to the
same topic made by out-group members are largely ignored or overlooked.
This volume is intended to overcome this unfortunate situation.

The time has come to strive for a synthesis of developmental and social
psychology in pursuit of a common goal -- the study of gender as a social
category. In order to better understand the multifaceted and multi-
dimensional nature of gender it seems necessary to take up and analyze
issues at the intersection of both psychological disciplines, highlighting the
interrelationships between developmental and social processes rather than
looking at either kind of process in isolation. The objective of this book,
then, is to provide a forum for setting out and elaborating an integrative
perspective on gender and to offer a coherent counterpoint to the time-
honored separation of gender research along disciplinary lines. Each chapter
is intended to bring together relevant research and theory from both social
and developmental psychology, thus attesting to the versatility of crossing
disciplinary lines and, at the same time, providing fertile grounds for future
cross-disciplinary research.

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