Kagan Infant Determinism Essay

636 Words2 Pages

Critique of Infant Determinism Do experiences during early years solely determine later development? In the second chapter of his book "Three Seductive Ideas" (1998), Kagan questions the overemphasis on the first two years of an individual's life. While not doubting its importance, Kagan suggests that perhaps more crucial to human development is the construction of experience, perception, and comparison of ourselves to others which begins during the fifth or sixth year of life. His argument is a valid one, regarding the fact that infant determinism overrates the importance of first two years in a person’s whole lifetime. As Kagan argues, infant determinism is rather a political theory that conceals the effect of social class on development …show more content…

Kagan points out, “Those who favor infant determinism do not award sufficient power to the events of the later childhood and adolescence, many of which are correlated to social class” (Kagan, 1998, p.147). Although the foundation of today’s society is based on the idea of everybody being equal, differences in social class and socioeconomic status are inevitable. All men being equal only exist in theory: in the real social structure there exists lower working class, middle class, and upper class. A person’s perception and development is largely influenced by the experience that comes from this social structure. People living in poverty are more likely to experience greater amount of hardships and less amount of education than others do, and these conditions tend to continue. Kagan emphasizes the impact of this “continuity” on one’s life: he says the reason for high rate of adult morbidity in lower class, for example, is because of the continuity of the poor living condition over the many years (Kagan, 1998, p.128). However, discussing the existing inequality between social classes is such a sensitive issue. It is hard to relate all the unpleasant outcomes to the differences in behavior in social classes when everyone is supposed to be equal and well. Therefore, if there are differences between children of upper class and lower class, blaming the past is easier than blaming the social class itself. Kagan argues, “Though a child’s social class is the best predictor of future vocation, academic accomplishments, and psychiatric

Open Document