Cultural Psychology

The distinguished psychologist Michael Cole, known for his pioneering work in literacy, cognition, and human development, offers a multifaceted account of what cultural psychology is, what it has been, and what it can be. A rare synthesis of the theory and empirical work shaping the field, this book will become a major foundation for the emerging discipline.

ISBN 0674179560   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780674179561 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 604 Publisher Harvard University Press   Published in Cambridge, Mass Imprint Harvard University Press   Previous ISBN 9780674179516 Format Paperback   Height (mm) 235 Publication date 27 Feb 1998   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 302   Spine width (mm) 27 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly Pages 406

Foreword by Sheldon H. White Introduction Enduring Questions and Disputes Cross-Cultural Investigations Cognitive Development, Culture, and Schooling From Cross-Cultural Psychology to the Second Psychology Putting Culture in the Middle Phylogeny and Cultural History A Cultural Approach to Ontogeny The Cognitive Analysis of Behavior in Context Creating Model Activity Systems A Multilevel Methodology for Cultural Psychology The Work in Context Notes References Acknowledgments Index

Culture is back in psychology. Michael Cole, one of the most significant contributors to this movement, gives a thoughtful synthesis of his three decades of theoretical and empirical research in this book. Though mild-mannered in his writing, Cole's proposal amounts to nothing less than a radical restructuring of the entire discipline of psychology as a scientific enterprise. Whether one agrees with him or not, anyone interested in the culture--mind relation should read it cover to cover. In fact, any psychologist, basic or applied, will be richly rewarded by a close reading of it...Cole's cultural psychology is an impressive achievement with a promising future. -- Yoshihisa Kashima Contemporary Psychology A pathbreaking volume on cultural psychology by one of the moderm masters of that subject. Full of riches. -- Jerome Bruner Nowhere will a reader find as rich and thorough a historical account of the origins and evolution of an approach that has become increasingly influential in American psychology. -- Deanna Kuhn, Columbia University Teachers College Michael Cole argues that, just as fish do not see water because they swim in it, so humans do not see culture because we swim in it. The first part of the book is a fascinating tour of the early days of psychology. He argues that when psychology tried to become a science, it stopped thinking about the culture in which individuals operate. New Scientist Michael Cole's recent book is a fascinating combination of history, autobiography and monograph. It is written in just the way that psychology should be written. It is informed by the chequered past of this strange discipline, if indeed it is one. In the autobiographical sections the author takes us through his transformation from naeive paradigm dope to truly creative scientist. As a monograph the book consists of an exposition of 'cultural psychology' as a general theory of human thought and action, richly illustrated with empirical work conducted within that framework. It has the further merit of cross-referencing, so to say, some, though not all, of the other forms that the disciplinary matrix the author calls 'cognitive psychology' has taken in recent decades. Whenever one comes across a book of this depth and a record of this breadth of experiences, one is struck yet again by the amazing way that orthodox, methodological behaviourism and the naeive cognitivist mainstream can continue to be pursued...In this remarkable book we have another volume to accompany the growing shelf-load of subtle and powerful studies that call into question the hegemony of methodological behaviourism, naeive experimentalism, the 'quick fix' for a few papers to support a tenure application, and mentalistic cognitivism with its hidden and quite implausible individual mental mechanisms...Let us hope that this book is widely read, and its message even more widely acted upon. -- Rom Harre Culture & Psychology In a very readable, clear book, Cole uses the domain of cognitive development to show how a cultural framework can help us understand the dynamic interplay between individual, social, cultural, and historical lines of development...[It is] a convincing argument for why studying culture can open new horizons and frontiers. -- Margarita Azmitia American Journal of Psychology Michael Cole's latest book represents an impressive synthesis of the many disciplinary strands of cultural psychology, as well as an inspiration for this discipline...Cole's tale is made even more compelling by the account of how he was able to address the concrete theoretical, methodological, and practical problems he and his colleagues encountered while trying to take culture into consideration in their research...Cole's book should be of interest to a broad audience concerned with the systematic examination of culture and mind...All educators concerned with creating, evaluating, and sustaining productive environments for learning are likely to find both examples and a

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