1st Edition
Vygotsky and Marx Toward a Marxist Psychology
This important book fills two interrelated gaps in the field of psychology, first by developing a Marxist orientation to psychology and second by explaining how psychological pioneer Lev Vygotsky contributed greatly to this trend. Through outlining core principles in Marxist psychology, the book offers a framework for continuing Vygotsky’s Marxist legacy in new areas of the field.
This book first documents the neglect in Vygotskyian studies of his deep use of Marxist concepts, and then subsequent chapters overcome this neglect. They explain the use of many Marxist concepts in his theoretical and methodological writings, demonstrating how Vygotsky utilized specific Marxist meanings in his work on consciousness, signs, development, imagination, creativity, secondary language acquisition, and unit of analysis. Chapters also address how Vygotsky dealt with incompatible theories and methodologies, illustrating how Marxist and Vygotskyian psychology can grow from anti-Marxist, anti-Vygotskyian approaches to psychology, such as psychoanalysis.
This book marks an original contribution to the field of psychology, offering a new understanding of both Vygotsky’s work and cultural and Marxist psychology. Furthermore, it expands the field of Marxism to include psychology. It will be of interest to all students and researchers of cultural, educational, and developmental psychology as well as the history of psychology. It will also appeal to social theorists and Marxist scholars.
Introduction: Recovering and Advancing Vygotsky’s Marxist Psychology Carl Ratner & Daniele Nunes Henrique Silva 1. Marxist Psychology, Vygotsky’s Cultural Psychology, and Psychoanalysis: The Double Helix of Science and Politics Carl Ratner 2. The Development Of Consciousness And The Concept Formation: Contributions From Marx and Vygotsky Larissa Bulhões and Lígia Márcia Martins 3. The Problem of Work, Consciousness, and Sign In Human Development Daniele Nunes Henrique Silva, Ilana Paiva Lemos, Lavinia Magiolino 4. The Germ Cell in Marx and Vygotsky Andy Blunden 5. What Makes Vygotsky's Theory of Psychology a Marxist Theory? Peter Feigenbaum 6. Imagination and Creative Activity: Ontological And Epistemological Principles of The Contributions of Vygotsky Katia Maheirie and Andrea Vieira Zanella 7. Materialist Dialectics in Vygotsky’s Methodological Framework: Implications for Second Language Education Research Jim Lantolf 8. Social constructionist interpretation of Vygotsky Eduardo Moura da Costa and Silvana Calvo Tuleski. Index
Biography
Carl Ratner is Director of the Institute for Cultural Research and Education, USA, and has developed the field of cultural psychology in generally Marxist directions.
Daniele Nunes Henrique Silva is Professor of Psychology and supervisor of the postgraduate program in Human Development Process and Health in the Department of Educational and Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Psychology, University of Brasilia, Brazil.
