Wertsch argues against reductionist accounts of human cognition and proposes a sociocultural perspective, which moves beyond the isolated individual. He suggests that "mediated action" and cultural tools shape cognitive processes and can explain how they are organized.
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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.
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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 agent in generating historical texts ; The mastery and appropriation of narratives as mediational means for representing the past ; 4. Mediated action in social space ; Intersubjectivity and alterity in social interaction ; Intersubjectivity and laterity in studies of intermental; functioning ; Harnessing intersubjectivity and alterity in instructional discourse ; Reciprocal teaching as an alternative form of instructional discourse ; 5. Appropriation and resistance ; Appropriation and resistance: The official Soviet history of Estonia ; Tactics of consumption and forms of resistance ; Strategies of consumption and forms of resistance: ; Official and unofficial history ; Summary ; Appropriation and resistance: Cultural stereotypes ; The "Microdynamics" of appropriation and resistance ; Stereotype threat and appropriation ; 6. Mind as mediated action: An Epilogue
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'...With his usual clear prose and effective balance of theory and experimental evidence, Wertsch argues that neither social nor biological reductionism is the proper methodological stance...Wetsch nicely shows how many school failures result from mismatches in speech genre between the child and the school.'
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"For all of us in psychology (cognitive or cultural) and education, it's tempting to avoid hard to understand relationships for example, between subjective agency and objective cultural tools, internalization and appropriation, creativity and conventions. Drawing on literary theorist Kenneth Burke as well as more familiar Bakhtin and Vygotsky, Wertsch shows us why we can't either avoid these issues, or resolve them neatly on one side or the other. With rich examples from teaching and curriculum, he simply won't let us off the hook."--Courtney Cazden, Harvard Graduate School of Education "Jim Wertsch's Mind as Action carries the study of mind in relation to its cultural, institutional, and historical contexts into important new territory. Must reading for anyone interested in sociocultural approaches to human nature."--Mike Cole, Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, University of California, La Jolla "For all of us in psychology (cognitive or cultural) and education, it's tempting to avoid hard to understand relationships for example, between subjective agency and objective cultural tools, internalization and appropriation, creativity and conventions. Drawing on literary theorist Kenneth Burke as well as more familiar Bakhtin and Vygotsky, Wertsch shows us why we can't either avoid these issues, or resolve them neatly on one side or the other. With rich examples from teaching and curriculum, he simply won't let us off the hook."--Courtney Cazden, Harvard Graduate School of Education "Jim Wertsch's Mind as Action carries the study of mind in relation to its cultural, institutional, and historical contexts into important new territory. Must reading for anyone interested in sociocultural approaches to human nature."--Mike Cole, Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, University of California, La Jolla In this compelling and complex book, psychologist and sociocultural analyst Wertsch finds the linkage in human action, particularly in "mediated action": the relationship between individuals and the cultural tools that mediate their actions...Wertsch argues persuasively that this method of sociocultural analysis can be applied not only to the study of the human mind but to social problems."--Readings "The major task that Wertsch defines for himself in Mind as Action is to examine why psychologists have had such a diminutive voice in discussions regarding major contemporary social and political events. He proceeds to argue that it is the antinomy between individual and society and the associated opposition between mental functioning and sociocultural setting that are impediments to psychology realizing its potential. Wertsch urges that we recognize that these notions, which are typically placed in opposition to one another, are but hypothetical constructs-interpretive tools-that require constant scrutiny to determine their value relative to the limitations. Wertsch further proposes that key to the fruitful conduct of human science is a focus on the dialectical relationship between human agents and their cultural tools. It is in this relationship that one can describe and interpret human action."--Contemporary Psychology "Wertsch (education, Washington U.) asserts that the human sciences are dominated by a focus on the agent, and ignore the importance of mediational means in human action. Drawing on the ideas of Lev Vygotsky, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Kenneth Burke, he traces the implications of mediated action for a sociocultural analysis of the mind. Using a method of analysis that connects the various perspectives of the social sciences in an integrated, nonreductive fashion, he looks at such mediated actions as stereotypes and historical narratives."--Reference & Research Book News
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James V. Wertsch is Professor and Chair of the Department of Education at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780195117530
Publisert
1998
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
481 gr
Høyde
242 mm
Bredde
163 mm
Dybde
22 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
216

Forfatter

Biographical note

James V. Wertsch is Professor and Chair of the Department of Education at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.