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Culture & Psychology
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Commentary: Vygotskian Cultural-Historical and Sociocultural Approaches Represent Two Levels of Analysis: Complementarity Instead of Opposition

Aaro Toomela

Tallinn University, Estonia, aaro.toomela{at}ut.ee

Matusov distinguishes two usually counterposed modern schools of psychology that stem from Vygotsky's theory, the sociocultural and cultural-historical. I suggest that the sociocultural approach is fundamentally deficient in ignoring a need for cognitive analysis and not taking seriously the notion of hierarchical development. Problems that arise from the acognitive-adevelopmental position of the sociocultural approach are analyzed in respect of three issues: ethnocentrism, the natural-cultural line of development, and testing in education. The cultural-historical approach, in turn, is deficient in ignoring cultural diversity and the content of the psyche. The superficially opposed sociocultural and cultural-historical Vygotskian schools complement each other if it is realized that both schools represent different levels of analysis.

Key Words: cultural-historical approach • ethnocentrism • natural and cultural line of development • sociocultural approach • testing in education

Culture & Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 1, 57-69 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1354067X07085812
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