This program focuses on how government and nongovernmental policies shape the interaction of developmental and socialization process in people's lives. The emphasis throughout is on education and socialization in their broadest sense, referring not only to learning that occurs in schools, but also to that which occurs in the family and in the wide array of formal and informal settings that constitute the socializing environment in which people grow upand grow old. Thus, this interdisciplinary program draws on three areas of knowledge and the interrelations among them: the psychological and social development of the person across the life span; the influence of social, cultural and economic environments; and the role of policy decisions including educational policy decisions, in shaping life choices, opportunities,and outcomes.