This is the
second edition of a very well received introductory text. It has been
substantially updated and revised since the 1994 edition, and there are a
number of significant additions that reflect the changing context of the
subject. Only one chapter from the first edition has been deleted. The text
provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the subject of
cross-cultural psychology, both to the student and to the informed general
reader. However, a closer reading of the scope of the text reveals some
weaknesses, and indeed some significant omissions.

The book is clearly laid out in five sections: history
and methods, developmental aspects, emotion, personality and belief systems,
international interactions and, finally, applications. They take the reader
through much of the history of the subject, including brief but quite adequate
discussions of the major methodological approaches and the links with the
development of social anthropology. However, much of the most interesting and
pertinent material is concerned with the changing nature of migration and
cultural mixing.

Migration, forced and otherwise, has become a
critical feature of the Twentieth and early Twenty First centuries. The
implications of culturally mixed populations, cutting across and intersecting
national boundaries, have changed the scope of health and social analysis. It
is of immediate and crucial importance that we consider our understanding and
the consequences of approaches to multiculturalism, assimilation, the refugee
crisis, internal and external displacement, international aid, globalization,
even the clash of cultures. It is in these areas that the authors make steps in
broadening the scope of contemporary scholarship. However, cross-cultural
psychology also needs to address the nature of inter-ethnic and inter-religious
conflict. It should have something to say about the psychology and human
effects of torture and genocide. These are deeply troubling aspects of the
human condition about which little is said.

The impact on personal and community health, both
psychological and physical, that migration can have is similarly a major issue
that really requires further investigation. It may be important to completely
reconsider the dominant paradigms of understanding, and this is something the
text only does tentatively. A sharp and critical eye may need to be turned on
our own assumptions, rather than continuing to imagine that they can provide
all the answers we seek.

It is very pleasing to note that new chapters in the
text have been devoted to aid and internationalism. However, there is a
tendency within the text to focus on the interpersonal aspects of interaction,
communication, respect, attribution and so on, and this can neglect the wider
perspective. Such is the present crisis brought about by interventionist
policies of the dominant developed nations, for example the USA and the UK,
that any failure to consider the psychological impact and consequences may
render a text like this too narrow in scope and too parochial in outlook. It is
here that the cutting edge of cross-cultural psychology should be focused, and
it is here where this text does not quite meet the standard.

One of the expressed hopes for the text is that it
will stimulate interest in the subject, especially at the graduate level. It
can be safely said that it will stimulate interest and it will provide a sound
introduction to a fascinating subject, but one shortcoming may be that is does
everything a little bit too safely.

© 2002 Mark Welch

Dr Mark Welch is currently a
Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Coordinator in The School of
Nursing at the University of Canberra, Australia. His PhD investigated the
representation of madness in popular film, and his other research interests
include the mental health of refugees and victims of torture, and the history
of psychiatric epistemology. With his wife he has written a play, which is
currently in production.

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