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In Search of `the Appropriate' Unit of Analysis for Sociocultural Research

University of Delaware, USA, ematusov{at}udel.edu

The polysemic notion of `unit of analysis' has been developed by Gestalt psychologists and fruitfully used by Vygotsky in the struggle against reductionism in psychology. Currently, it has been appropriated by a sociocultural approach for criticizing cognitive approaches for using the `individual as unit of analysis'. In this article, I argue that a sociocultural approach is experiencing a crisis as it is being affected by holism—a tendency to include the universal whole in the studied phenomenon. I propose and discuss alternatives to reductionism and holism for a sociocultural approach.

Key Words: dialogism • holism • reductionism • sociocultural approach • unit of analysis

Culture & Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 3, 307-333 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1354067X07079887


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