Knowledge about child development informs therapeutic practice so it is important to keep an eye on the research in this field. Unfortunately, the release of a recent report by The Society for Child Development Research is very concerning. Reading the final report generated by its Anti-Racism Task Force indicates that this society is now heading in an ideological anti-science direction. According to this report, its members had been tasked with, “creating a shared language and a fundamental understanding of what constitutes anti-racist science and how we can value and enforce anti-racist principles and practices within the Society.”
As with the notorious Holmes Report, the task force starts off with a basic unquestioned premise: “White normativity – a colonial, American, patriarchal capitalism – is the default setting in mainstream psychology and developmental science.” Holding this position means that the task force members can bypass the difficult work of interrogating their own biases and, instead, move straight into imposing their ideological worldview.
The researcher’s goal is going to be reset: instead of the broader imperative of developing empirically-grounded knowledge, the researcher should be “conducting research that aims to challenge and eradicate racism.” Racism is everywhere – a global phenomenon – “… white supremacy persists even in the absence of white bodies – and similarly that anti-Blackness flourishes absent Black bodies” (capitalisation in original). Here, the religous tone of this tract becomes unmistakable: true believers (researchers), are being exhorted to identify the workings of Satan everywhere (“white supremacy”) and dedicate themselves and their work to the eradication of evil (“anti-racism”).
It is the shared responsibility of the Society and all researchers to “… critique and resist epistemic oppression and violence, and actively embrace, prioritize, and utilize diverse ways of knowing”, and “draw on theories that center the impacts of and resistance to systems of oppression and inequality (e.g., intersectionality theory, critical theories).” We all know where this is going; the scientific method will be characterised as “epistemic oppression”.
And how is it going to ensure its recomendations are going to be adhered to? “… every committee and governing council within the Society is accountable for anti-racism and will have an “anti-racism representative” to ensure there is continued focus on anti-racist science both within and between groups at the Society.” We all know what this means: an inflated bureaucracy of repression and control.
You can read the whole sorry report here. The report’s authors believe they are engaged in the noble task of dismantling racism but what they are effectively doing is dismantling this professional society. They say they want to be fully inclusive and serve all children; if this report is implemented then all children will suffer through the society imposing counterproductive DEI mandates on research activities.
Unless dissenting voices join together and halt the implementation of this disengenuous project, research in child development will be severely compromised.
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