This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Bradley, B. S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Commentary: The Vygotskian Family in the Supreme Court of Practice

Charles Sturt University, Australia, bbradley{at}csu.edu.au

The unification of psychology has proven a perennial problem. Vygotsky's solution was to reverse the usual predominance of theory over practice, making practice the `supreme judge' of truth. Matusov's goal appears to be a more modest one: the integration of cultural-historical and sociocultural Vygotskians into a harmonious `family'. Analysing the aporias of Matusov's text, I argue that what unites these two groups of Vygotsky's heirs is a common commitment to liberation from oppression and the promotion of equality. Vygotskians thus take their place in a far larger movement of psychologists who share these commitments and apply them not just to theory but to the practice of research, politics and pedagogy. Hence Matusov's argument, despite its paradoxes, ellipses and internal contradictions, has a far larger reach than he implies, but one that turns out to be quite in keeping with Vygotsky's initial proposals for a unified psychology.

Key Words: cultural-historical approach • ethics before science • Hippocratic oath • ontology • reflexiveness • sociocultural approach • the test of practice • unification of psychology

Culture & Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 1, 37-44 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1354067X07085810


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. Matusov Response: Dialogue with Sociohistorical Vygotskian Academia about a Sociocultural Approach Culture Psychology, March 1, 2008; 14(1): 81 - 93. [Abstract] [PDF]