Sociocultural Studies of Mind (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives)

Sociocultural Studies of Mind addresses the question of how mental functioning is related to the cultural, historical, and institutional settings in which it takes place. There are three unifying ideas that run through the volume: 1) one of the basic ways that sociocultural setting shapes mental functioning is through the cultural tools employed, 2) mediation provides a formulation of how this shaping occurs, and 3) in order to specify how cultural tools exist and have their effects, it is essential to focus on human action as a unit of analysis. This landmark volume defines a general approach to sociocultural psychology--one that the authors hope will be debated and redefined as the field moves forward. Sociocultural Studies of Mind will be crucial for researchers and graduate students in cognitive science, philosophy, and cultural anthropology.