Mind As Action

Zusatztext 'This is a fascinating book and highly stimulating to read...a challenging book...this intriguing book should be read by anyone with a serious interest in the relationship between mind and sociocultural setting.' James V. Wertsch is Professor and Chair of the Department of Education at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. Klappentext Contemporary social problems typically involve many complex! interrelated dimensions--psychological! cultural! and institutional! among others. But today! the social sciences have fragmented into isolated disciplines lacking a common language! and analyses of social problems have polarizedinto approaches that focus on an individual's mental functioning over social settings! or vice versa. In Mind as Action! James V. Wertsch argues that current approaches to social issues have been blinded by the narrow confines of increasing specialization in the social sciences. In response to this conceptual blindness! he proposes a method of sociocultural analysis that connects the variousperspectives of the social sciences in an integrated! nonreductive fashion. Wertsch maintains that we can use mediated action! which he defines as the irreducible tension between active agents and cultural tools! as a productive method of explicating the complicated relationships between humanaction and its manifold cultural! institutional! and historical contexts. Drawing on the ideas of Lev Vygotsky! Mikhail Bakhtin! and Kenneth Burke! as well as research from various fields! this book traces the implications of mediated action for a sociocultural analysis of the mind! as well as forsome of today's most pressing social issues. Wertsch's investigation of forms of mediated action such as stereotypes and historical narratives provide valuable new insights into issues such as the mastery! appropriation! and resistance of culture. By providing an analytic unit that has thepossibility of operating at the crossroads of various disciplines! Mind as Action will be important reading for academics! students! and researchers in psychology! linguistics! cognitive science! sociology! literary analysis! and philosophy. Zusammenfassung A study which argues against reductionist accounts of human cognition and proposes a sociocultural perspective, moving beyond the isolated individual. The author claims that, in many human endeavours, the outcomes we are interested in are not determined by the information processing ability of the individual, but by forces in the environment. 1. The task of sociocultural analysis; Translation at the crossroads; Multiple perspectives on human action; Methodological individualism in the copyright age; 2. Properties of mediated action; Mediated action is characterized by an irreducible tension between agent and mediational means; Mediational means are material; Mediated action typically has multiple simultaneous goals; Mediated action is situated in one orf more developmental paths; Mediational means constrain as well as enable action; New mediational means transform mediated action; The relationship of agents toward mediational means can be characterized in terms of mastery: Internalization as mastery; The relationship of agents toard mediational means can be characterized in terms of appropriation: Internalization as appropriation; Mediational means are often produced for reasons other than to facilitate mediated action; Mediational means are associated with power and authority; Narrative as a cultural tool for representing the past; Representing the past: Cultural tools and their uses; Historical texts as cultural tools; Mastering texts about the origins of the U.S.: Knowing too little; Mastering texts about the origins of the U.S.: Knowing too much; Events; Theme; The construction of main characters; Frequency of mention; Patterns of agency; Patterns of presupposed presence; The irreducible tension between cultural tool and ...

Product details

• Authors: James Wertsch, James V. Wertsch, James V. (Professor and Chair Wertsch
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.02.1998
• EAN: 9780195117530
• ISBN: 978-0-19-511753-0
• No. of pages: 224
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Basic principles