Cultural Psychology: A Once and Future Discipline - Softcover

Cole, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674179560 ISBN 13: 9780674179561

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1998

Synopsis

The psychologist Michael Cole, known for his pioneering work in literacy, cognition, and human development, offers a multifaceted account of what cultural psychology is, what is has been, and what it can be. The text provides a synthesis of the theory and empirical work shaping the field.

About this title

Review:

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

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

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 "

[This book] throws...light on Max Velman's belief that awareness should not be thought of in terms of happenings in the brain alone, but is rather located in 'events as perceived'--in amalgams of the external world with brain activity. After reading Cole, there's not much room for doubt that the cultural and social world of the experiencer, as well as the physical world, enters the amalgam. To reach a full understanding of conscious mind, culture must be given as much weight as neuroscience.--Chris Nunn "Journal of Consciousness Studies "

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 "

Cole has carried out a heroic task and, in his usual gracious style, he has moved cultural psychology a great distance forward.--William Kessen, Yale University

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 analytic tools that may help them in their ventures. Cole's subtitle calls cultural psychology a 'once and future discipline.' With this work, he offers a significant boost to the discipline's future.--Joseph L. Polman and James V. Wertsch "American Journal of Education "

Herder, Wundt, Dilthey, Sapir, and all the ancestral spirits of cultural psychology must be smiling down at this book and pleased to see their once and future discipline alive and well in the writings of Michael Cole.--Richard A. Shweder, University of Chicago

An immensely important book. Cole is a leading researcher and theorist whose work has for decades provided impetus for advancement in our understanding of culture and mind, and this volume offers readers a big step forward. In it, Cole integrates cultural and historical ideas with the traditional findings and approaches of psychology, and he relates very important theoretical concepts to empirical work on cognition and learning in everyday life. By coordinating cultural ideas with processes of individual development as well as species development, this volume helps move the field beyond the nature-nurture dichotomy. Cultural Psychology is a valuable contribution that is sorely needed.--Barbara Rogoff, University of California, Santa Cruz

About the Author:

Michael Cole is Professor of Communication and Psychology and Director of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition at the University of California, San Diego.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0674179560
• ISBN 13: 9780674179561
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 406