Sociocultural Studies of Mind

Sociocultural
studies of mind

Edited by

JAMES V. WERTSCH
Clark University

PABLO DEL RÍO
Universidad de Salamanca

AMELIA ALVAREZ
Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje

1995 . CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS . Cambridge

ISBN 0-521-47056-0 Hardback
ISBN 0-521-47643-7 Paperback

The publisher's blurb:

'The ideas of the Russian theorist Lev Vygotsky and his followers have provided rich ground for research in the West. Now that those influential ideas have saturated the literature, researchers and theorists are asking themselves how to push the research beyond Vygotsky's intentions. The contributors to this volume strive to develop a cross-disciplinary "language" in which to deal with today's complex problems.

Sociocultural Studies of Mind addresses the primary question: How is mental functioning related to the cultural, historical, and institutional settings in which it exists? Although the contributors speak from different perspectives, a clear set of unifying themes runs through the volume: (1) One of the basic ways in which sociocultural setting shapes mental functioning is through the cultural tools employed. (2) Mediation provides a formulation of how this shaping occurs. (3) In order to specify how cultural tools exist and have their effects, it is essential to focus on human action as a unit of analysis.

This landmark volume defines a general approach to sociocultural psychology _ one that will be debated and redefined as the field moves forward. Sociocultural Studies of Mind is crucial reading for researchers and graduate students in developmental and educational psychology, cognitive science, philosophy, and cultural anthropology.'


Series foreword							vii

List of contributors						ix

Sociocultural studies:   history, action, and mediation		1


Part I	Human action:  historical and theoretical foundations

1	Cultural-historical psychology and the
	psychological theory of activity:
	retrospect and prospect					37
	Vladimir P. Zinchenko

2	The need for action in sociocultural research		56
	James V. Wertsch

3	Theories of action, speech, natural language
	and discourse						75
	Jean-Paul Bronckart


Part II          Mediation in action

4	Writing and the mind					95
	David R. Olso

5	An approach to an integrated sensorimotor
	system in the human central brain and a
	subconscious computer					124
	Tadanobu Tsunoda


Part III	Sociocultural setting, intersubjectivity,
		and the formation of the individual

6	Observing sociocultural activity on three planes:
	participatory appropriation, guided
	participation, and apprenticeship			139
	Barbara Rogoff

7	The constitution of the subject:
	a persistent question					165
	Ana Luiza B. Smolka, 
	Maria Cecília R. De Goes, and Angel Pino


Part IV		Sociocultural settings:  design and intervention

8	Socio-cultural-historical psychology:
	some general remarks and a proposal for a
	new kind of cultural-genetic methodology		187
	Michael Cole

9	Tossing, praying, and thinking: the
	changing architectures of mind and agency		215
	Pablo del Río and Amelia Alvarez


	Index							249


Contributors

Amelia Alvarez
Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje,
Carretera de Canillas,  Madrid,  Spain

Jean-Paul Bronckar
Université de Genève,  Place de l'Université, Switzerland 

Michael Cole
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition,
University of California,  La Jolla,  California

Pablo del Río
Universidad de Salamanca,  Facultad de Ciencias Sociales,
Salamanca,   Spain

Maria Cecília R. De Goes
Department of Educational Psychology,
Faculdade de Educaco,  UNICAMP,  Campinas,   Brazil

David R. Olson
Centre for Applied Cognitive Science,
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,  Toronto,  Ontario,  Canada

Angel Pino
Department of Educational Psychology,
Faculdade de Educaco,  UNICAMP,  Campinas,  Brazil

Barbara Rogoff
Psychology Department,  University of California,
Santa Cruz,   California

Ana Luiza B. Smolka,  
Department of Educational Psychology,
Faculdade de Educaco,  UNICAMP,  Campinas,   Brazil

Tadanobu Tsunoda
Tokyo Medical and Dental University,  Chiba,   Japan

James V. Wertsch
Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology,  Clark University,
Worcester,   Massachusetts

Vladimir P. Zinchenko
Moscow Institute of Engineering, Electronics, and Automation,
Moscow,  Russia

Contents

Contributors