Re: [xmca] Social Situation of Development.Continued

> Hi Andy and Mike,
Holbrook Mahn wrote an interesting article(in the past 5 years or so) that
you might enjoy regarding this topic. I can't remember the title, but I
believe he is a member of the listserve and Vera might also recall.
Best wishes,
Cathrene

Mike,
> For sure the child is part of the Social Situation of
> Development (SSD), and the SSD is "both inside and outside"
> the child. But this still leaves a couple of big issues.
>
> We are not talking about a "social situation" in general,
> but the child and his social relations under a very specific
> concept, viz., the "situation", or "predicament" that the
> child is in. In pt 2 v5 LSV on a number of cases uses the
> term "emancipation." So what we have is some kind of logic
> of a struggle for emancipation, which confronts a series of
> "situations" or predicaments, which define the central line
> of development for that age level. This "situation" is the
> "essence" (in terms of The Pheneomenology, or "notion" in
> terms of The Logic) of the child (i.e., as a member of a
> human ensemble) at that point. The child is the subject of
> this relation; it is the child which takes the active
> position in every situation; without the child's
> dissatisfaction with the situation and her striving to
> emancipate themself from it, no development will occur; we
> would have pathology.
>
> Put in terms I have raised earlier on this list, the child's
> development is a project, a subject, of which the child is
> the individual, but their own body is the relevant key
> artefact which is being fashioned in the process and is the
> center of our conception of this project as a "system of
> activity," and the relations between the way in which the
> child's needs are met and the child's psychological (and
> biological) capacities are the particular. "Gestalt" is the
> same thing, though we have a nesting of Gestalten here, as
> the child remains, also, an individual in a community, their
> particular social relations within a larger division of
> labour and cultural traditions, etc., and the cultural
> constellation of the community mediate every relation of the
> child.
>
> The SSD with its central line of development, does not
> exhaust the multiplicity of lines of development going on at
> the same time. This logical problem is the same one which
> leads us to call very different countries "capitalist" or
> "industrialised." LSV's thesis is that there is one
> activity, at any given point in the child's development,
> which leads all the others, although at the same time
> resting on those others. But I think this text in Vol 5 of
> his CW represents an attempt to form a coherent concept of
> child development, which means getting to the essence of
> just one line of development at just one age level. This
> concept is the child's predicament and their striving to
> emancipate themselves from it and the specific psychological
> function that matures as a result of this striving.
>
> Andy
>
> Mike Cole wrote:
>> I am responding to the thread on the concept of SSD a while back which
>> was contributed to by Elina and Bella. I am unsure of how best to
>> position
>> this contribution, as a response to that thread or to continue it as a
>> new
>> note because the message string became very long (as well as worthwhile)
>> but
>> I wanted to inquire into an early part of it. So this is an attempt to
>> short
>> circuit that process and see if it leads to mischief in recovering the
>> meaning.
>>
>> Andy began by asking whether LSV had in mind the use of situation in the
>> sense of a problematic situation (which Bella took to mean negative, but
>> it could
>> be positive- e.g., I really want to eat a ripe apricot from the tree in
>> back yard right
>> now but its so
>> juicy I would have to stop typing, but I am really anxious to get this
>> thought out. Two
>> haystacks, so to speak). In reply, Elina wrote:
>>
>> Andy:
>>
>>> So would I be right Elina in thinking that Vygotsky has in mind
>>> something
>>> like a new relationship or arrangement of functions in the personality,
>>> a
>>> kind of new "configuration" of the whole? rather than a new function or
>>> ability appearing as an additional element of the whole?
>>>
>>
>> Elina:
>> I believe so, at least it is my understanding, the development of new
>> psychological function leads to a QUALITATIVE transformation of the
>> whole
>> system of relationships in the previously acquired functions.
>>
>> Maybe "configuration" is better than "formation." There is a lot of
>> debate
>> about how best top translate the German word "Gestalt" into English, and
>> I
>> have heard people say that "Configuration" or "formation" is better than
>> "whole" which is now the usual translation in psychology. This is what
>> is
>> being referred to isn't it, a new "Gestalt"?
>>
>> I believe Vygotsky distinguished lower and higher psychological
>> functions
>> in their origins, structure, the way of functioning and the relation to
>> other psychological functions.
>>
>>> So would I be right Elina in thinking that Vygotsky has in mind
>>> something
>>> like a new relationship or arrangement of functions in the personality,
>>> a
>>> kind of new "configuration" of the whole? rather than a new function or
>>> ability appearing as an additional element of the whole?
>>>
>>
>>
>> I believe so, at least it is my understanding, the development of new
>> psychological function leads to a QUALITATIVE transformation of the
>> whole
>> system of relationships in the previously acquired functions.
>>
>> Maybe "configuration" is better than "formation." There is a lot of
>> debate
>> about how best top translate the German word "Gestalt" into English, and
>> I
>> have heard people say that "Configuration" or "formation" is better than
>> "whole" which is now the usual translation in psychology. This is what
>> is
>> being referred to isn't it, a new "Gestalt"?
>>
>> I believe Vygotsky distinguished lower and higher psychological
>> functions
>> in their origins, structure, the way of functioning and the relation to
>> other psychological functions. By origins, most of the lower mental
>> functions are genetically inherited, by structure they are unmediated,
>> by
>> functioning they are involuntary, and they are isolated from other
>> functions. Higher psychological function is socially acquired, mediated,
>> voluntarily controlled and exists as a relationship in a system of
>> functions
>> rather than as an isolated element.
>> I am not an expert in Gestalt psychology, but I believe there is a claim
>> that some universal structural laws are innate for human perception. If
>> this
>> is true, then it would be wrong to use the concept of Gestalt in
>> reference
>> to higher psychological functions.
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 1. Andy-- Does your question about a "new function or ability" require
>> and
>> either/or answer? I am having trouble figure out what it would mean for
>> understanding the process of change if it consisted of nothing
>> other/more
>> than rearrangements of what was already there. Perhaps the answer
>> resides
>> in the level of analysis, e.g. molecules are "nothing more" than
>> arrangements of
>> atoms and no new atoms have appeared (is this true?) since the big bang.
>>
>> Another way to come at this question would be to restrict ourselves to
>> higher/
>> culturally mediated, psychological functions. In that case, it seems
>> that
>> the answer
>> would be "both/and." There is biological maturation (under environmental
>> conditions
>> that are themselves culturally conditioned) that enables the formation
>> of
>> new, higher,
>> psychological functions. The acquisition of the ability to read might be
>> taken as an example of this process;
>> it requires both the maturation of various brain structures and
>> culturally
>> mediated practices that serve
>> to coordinate them with each other and culturally evolved graphic signs
>> so
>> that they become meaningful
>> in a new way resulting in and enabling new, other, higher psychological
>> functions.
>>
>> 2. Elina -- I thought your formulation of the "natural/cultural" lines
>> was
>> really interesting and it got me to
>> wondering. When you write:
>> By origins, most of the lower mental
>> functions are genetically inherited, by structure they are unmediated,
>> by
>> functioning they are involuntary, and they are isolated from other
>> functions.
>>
>> I am wondering about all three parts of this nice summary. On the one
>> hand,
>> this makes me think I am simply
>> repeating LSV without knowing it when I write about modularity and
>> context,
>> arguing for the interweaving of the two over the course of ontogeny. As
>> ordinarily conceived, modules are isolated from each other, inherited,
>> and
>> impervious to experience. Wouldn't be odd to find Fodor and Vygotsky in
>> the
>> same configuration(so to speak)!!?
>>
>> 3. Andy/David et al. -- The child is part of the SSD, as I understand
>> LSV.
>> But at the same time, there is the idea of neoformations arising when a
>> child is confronted with a new SSD. I feel like I need some sort of
>> field
>> reorganization to get my mind around both of these ideas at the same
>> time!!
>>
>> (Apologies if this note is out of order and the answers lie somewhere in
>> the
>> mail that accumulated during my week's absence from email).
>>
>> mike
>> _______________________________________________
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Andy Blunden http://home.mira.net/~andy/ +61 3 9380 9435
> Skype andy.blunden
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>

_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
Received on Sat Jun 28 18:39 PDT 2008