The past year has seen several exciting new publications which will be of interest to ISCAR members. Below we are delighted to provide an overview of:

• Activity Theory: An Introduction (Levant, Murakami, & McSweeney, Eds.)

• Beyond Adaptation: The Unity of Personal and Social Change in Critical Psychology and Cultural-Historical Theory (Manderbach, Ruge, Brook, Wengemuth, & Waleng, Eds.)

• Concept Formation in the Wild (Engeström)

• Diálogos Vygotskianos (Liberali, Vendraminii-Zanella, & Pereira Fuga, Eds.)

• Социально-генетическая психология учебных взаимодействий [Socio-Genetic Psychology of Educational Interactions] (in 2 volumes) (Rubtsov)

• Sociocultural Approaches to STEM Education: An ISCAR International Collective Issue (Plakitsi & Barma, Eds.)

• Transformer & Comprendre. Une introduction à la Théorie Historico-Culturelle de l’Activité [Transforming & Understanding: An Introduction to Cultural-Historical Activity Theory] (Lémonie)

• Лексикон Л.С. Выготского [Vygotsky's Lexicon] (Maidansky & Rubtsov, Eds.)

 

These are only examples of recent publications. Please alert Brett Bligh (b.bligh@lancaster.ac.uk) about other recent books that you would like to be announced in the next newsletter.

Activity Theory: An Introduction

Edited by Alex Levant, Kyoko Murakami, and Miriam McSweeney. (ibidem Press, 2024).

This collection introduces Activity Theory (AT) to the current generation of theorists and researchers. Originating in early Soviet psychology, suppressed by Stalin, and later rediscovered, this rich theoretical tradition and intellectual movement proliferated globally and developed in different directions across a variety of disciplines. However, until recently it remained “the best-held secret of academia” (Engeström 2009).

AT presents a unique approach to studying the nature, origin, and development of human subjectivity. Its core proposition is that the mind cannot be reduced to individual brain or body functions, nor is it a discursive or cultural phenomenon. Instead, AT posits that the mind emerges and develops inter-subjectively, and is internalized by individuals always embedded, along with their culture and language, in the context of object-oriented social practices. By refocusing the lens of inquiry from the individual onto the patterns of activity in which they move, this method illuminates a special reality – the materiality of human practice, which shapes the subject in ways that biological and cultural explanations cannot fully capture.

This volume assembles current scholarship from prominent figures across diverse fields who share the AT approach. It presents their findings and reflects on Activity Theory’s history, significance, and prospects.

The volume’s contributors are: David Bakhurst, Andy Blunden, Mikael Brunila, Juliano Camillo, Seth Chaiklin, Michael Cole, Brecht De Smet, Yrjö Engeström, Cathrine Hasse, Alex Levant, Miriam McSweeney, Cristiano Mattos, Kyoko Murakami, Bonnie Nardi, Vesa Oittinen, Juhana Rantavuori, André Machado Rodriguez, Annalisa Sannino, Anna Stetsenko, Katsuhiro Yamazumi.

More information at: https://www.ibidem.eu/en/Topics/Social-Sciences/Sociology/Activity-Theory.html

Beyond Adaptation: The Unity of Personal and Social Change in Critical Psychology and Cultural-Historical Theory

Edited by Till Manderbach, Johanna Ruge, Peter Brook, Eileen Wengemuth, and Sigga Waleng. (Peter Lang Verlag, 2024).

The book is the result of of a prolonged effort by some of the organizers of the “Ferieuni Kritische Psychologie” to revive a dialogue between German Nordic Critical Psychology and various international currents in Cultural Historical Theory. Addressing their disciplines’ (psychology, social work, and education) entanglements with oppressive structures, the contributors aim to reconcile individual support with social justice. In current times of accelerating crises, professionals often see only few opportunities to influence the conditions of their work. Thinking and acting beyond adaptation, authors from seven countries provide inspiration for researchers, practitioners, and students who want to be more than brokers of a broken system.

Cultural-Historical Theory is a powerful framework that can depict the dynamic of individual minds in society. Building on this, Critical Psychology has formulated an elaborate theory of human agency. Linking individual and social change needs such theorizing as an alternative to both control science and abstract criticism.

More information at: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1376341

Concept Formation in the Wild

By Yrjö Engeström (Cambridge University Press, 2024).

Concept formation is predominantly analyzed in classrooms and laboratory experiments. The collective formation of culturally novel concepts in practical activities ‘in the wild’ has largely been neglected. However, understanding and influencing the complexity and contradictions of the present world demands powerful concepts that can make a difference in practice.

Going beyond the understanding of concepts as individually acquired static labels, this book develops a dialectical theory of collective formation of novel concepts in the wild, in everyday activities. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), concepts are seen as contested and future-oriented means for guiding activities and their transformations. Detailed real-life examples of germ-cell concepts show how they can radically influence the course of development in different activities. Helping to identify  and foster the formation of potentially powerful concepts in fields of practice, the book serves researchers, advanced students and practitioners across human and social sciences.

Contents: Preface; 1. Introduction: Locating concept formation in the wild; 2. Theorizing concept formation in the wild: First lessons; 3. Theorizing concept formation in the wild: Cultural-historical activity theory; 4. Functional concepts in organized productive activities; 5. Embodied germ cell at work: Building an expansive concept of physical mobility in home care; 6. Double stimulation and concept formation in everyday work: Critical encounters between home care workers and their elderly clients; 7. Collective concept formation as creation at work; 8. Concept formation over the long haul: From Housing First to Housing First 2.0; 9. The consequences of concept formation in the wild.

Courtesy of the Library of University of Helsinki, the book is available online free of charge: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030021

Diálogos Vygotskianos

Edited by Fernanda Liberali, Daniela Vendraminii-Zanella, and Valdite Pereira Fuga. (Pontes Editores Ltda, 2024).

Diálogos Vygotskianos is a bilingual volume (Portuguese-English) that brings together national and international authors to explore and expand Lev Vygotsky’s theoretical legacy in addressing contemporary educational and social challenges. Organized by Fernanda Liberali, Daniela Vendramini-Zanella, and Valdite Pereira Fuga, the book emerged from the postgraduate course Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change by Relating Theory and Practice, held at PUC-SP in 2021, and reflects the dialogues held during the course. Comprising six chapters, it delves into themes such as radical-transformative agency, epistemic and ontological resistance, critical collaboration, and the role of play as activism. The book features contributions from Anna Stetsenko, Fernanda Liberali, José Carlos Barbosa Lopes, Robert Beshara, Valdite Pereira Fuga, Daniela Vendramini-Zanella, Maria Cecília Camargo Magalhães, Sueli Salles Fidalgo, Luciana Kool Modesto-Sarra, Lois Holzman, Samanta Malta, Viviane Letícia Carrijo, Bader Sawaia, Daniele N. H. Silva, Lavínia L. S. Magiolino, Milena M. N. M. Carmona, Marli P. Silva, Manolis Dafermos, and Francisco Estefogo. Each chapter connects theory and practice to inspire transformative educational and social practices, bridging disciplinary and cultural boundaries. By presenting these dialogues bilingually, the book amplifies accessibility and inclusivity, inviting educators, researchers, and readers to engage in constructing more critical and transformative educational practices worldwide.

Available Open Access at: https://tinyurl.com/DialogosVygotskianos

Социально-генетическая психология учебных взаимодействий

[English translation: Socio-Genetic Psychology of Educational Interactions]

By Vitaly Vladimirovich Rubtsov. (Gorodets Publishing House, 2024, in two volumes)

In 2024, the book «Socio-Genetic Psychology of Educational Interactions» (in 2 volumes) was published by Vitaly Vladimirovich Rubtsov, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor and President, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education, Head of the UNESCO Chair «Cultural-Historical Psychology of Childhood», President of the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. The publication includes articles and materials reflecting the results of many years of research carried out by the author and under his guidance. The edition considers a new socio-genetic method for studying the processes of education and development of concepts in children depending on the ways of organizing educational interactions.

Available Open Access at: https://psyjournals.ru/nonserialpublications/sgpli2024/

Sociocultural Approaches to STEM Education: An ISCAR International Collective Issue

Edited by Katerina Plakitsi and Sylvie Barma. (Springer, 2024).

This book is a contribution to the sociocultural approaches to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. It offers a new interpreting theoretical framework coming from the Cultural Historical Psychology. The authors highlight some serious elements of the sociocultural context that mediates learning on STEM or with STEM adds. The book brings together the work of researchers interested in developmental psychology and childhood, with a special focus on using Activity theory and Cultural-historical research approach to unite these two opposing approaches to the study of children. The authors reconsider our relationship and experiencing with technology. It moves the attention from the pure instrumental aspect of technology to a deep human and societal approach. Moreover, the book focuses on the issue of teachers' continuing education in both formal and informal settings is being seen under a sequential system of expansive cycles and the key role of contradictions in transformative educational settings. 

Overall, this book encourages the academic society to open dialogue with other societies and enhance interdisciplinary research in times of crisis.

More information at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-44377-0

Transformer & Comprendre. Une introduction à la Théorie Historico-Culturelle de l’Activité

[English translation: Transforming & Understanding: An Introduction to Cultural-Historical Activity Theory]

By Yannick Lémonie. (Peter Lang, 2025).

There has probably never been a greater need to learn how to collectively construct alternatives to the way we organise our activities. This need implies a strong theory oriented towards the production of a possible, achievable and desirable future, contained as a germ in the contradictions of our present. The cultural-historical activity theory is such an interventionist theory.

The first part of this book traces its successive developments, from the work of twentieth-century Soviet psychologists to more recent developments. The second part sheds light on the key concepts and how they are used in research (Object of Activity, Contradiction, Expansive Learning, Development). The third part describes the prospects for intervention aimed at transforming activity systems, explaining the methodological principles of formative interventions and the change laboratory.

An English version is due to be published on 31 January 2025 by Peter Lang.

More information at: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1473950

Лексикон Л.С. Выготского

[English translation: Vygotsky's Lexicon]

Edited by A.D. Maidansky & V.V. Rubtsov. (Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, 2024)

This volume includes the first Russian psychological dictionary co-authored by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky and Boris Yefimovich Varshava. The psychological dictionary was first published in 1931. This book also compiles all known encyclopedic articles by Vygotsky (20 articles from 4 encyclopedias).

Available Open Access at: https://psyjournals.ru/nonserialpublications/vyglex2024/contents