Society and the individual at the dawn of the twenty-first century

Abstract

Societies exert profound influences on the developmental paths of their citizens. Whether engaged or disengaged, satisfied or dissatisfied, socially embedded or lonely, healthy or disabled; whether people feel in control of their lives or view themselves as victims of circumstance, all are intrinsically tied to broad sociocultural contexts in which people come of age. Indeed, the historical era and related social norms into which we are born influence not only how much formal education we attain, when we marry, and how many children we have, but life histories also influence the efficiency with which our brains process information.