Transitions: Symbolic Resources in Development (Advances in Cultural Psychology: Constructing Human Development) - Softcover

Zittoun, Tania

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593112262 ISBN 13: 9781593112264

Publisher: Information Age Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

What do young people do with the novels they read, the films they see, the music they hear and sing? How do these cultural products act as 'symbolic resources' in the process of development? And what can we, as researchers, learn by studying people's uses of fiction? This monograph approaches development through the study of transitions and the processes of exploration that follow ruptures in people's lives. Specifically, it examines young people's symbolic responsibility as they have to choose among the wide range of cultural products societies exposes them to. The book thus examines the books, films and music that young people mobilize when they need to redefine their identity, learn informal know-how, or have to confer meaning to what happens to them in transitions. The book has a theoretical scope. It draws on cultural psychology and psychoanalysis to formulate the importance of semiotic mediation in thinking, feeling and acting. Its main contribution is to propose a model for analyzing uses of symbolic resources, such as books and films, in everyday life. It thus shows how uses of symbolic resources can enable new forms of experiences and conduct. It finally highlights social and personal conditions that might facilitate or hinder developmental uses of symbolic resources. The book, based on in-depth case studies, is addressed to scholars, professional and students in the fields of youth, culture and the media, cultural and developmental psychology, and life-long education.

About this title

About the Author

Tania Zittoun is a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Tania Zittoun is a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Edition details

• Publisher: Information Age Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1593112262
• ISBN 13: 9781593112264
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264