Activity theory

Abstract: `Potter and Wetherell have genuinely presented us with a different way of working in social psychology. The book's clarity means that it has the power to influence a lot of people ill-at-ease with traditional social psychology but unimpressed with (or simply bewildered by) other alternatives on offer. It could rescue social psychology from the sterility of the laboratory and its traditional mentalism' - Charles Antaki, The Times Higher Education Supplement This book is the first systematic and accessible introduction to the theory and application of discourse analysis within the field of social psychology. Discourse and Social Psychology includes chapters on the theoretical roots of discourse analysis in linguistic philosophy, ethnomethodology and semiotics and an overview on the perspectives of discourse analysis and its utility in studying attitudes. Five substantive chapters are concerned with the key concepts of social psychology. Finally, the authors identify future research directions and present an exhaustive bibliography of all relevant literature. The authors draw on a wide range of examples from written and spoken discourse and avoid jargon at all times, even when introducing complex theoretical issues.

Abstract: Cultural-historical activity theory has evolved through three generations of research. The emerging third generation of activity theory takes two interacting activity systems as its minimal unit of analysis, inviting us to focus research efforts on the challenges and possibilities of inter-organizational learning. Activity theory and its concept of expansive learning are examined with the help of four questions: 1. Who are the subjects of learning? 2. Why do they learn? 3. What do they learn? 4. How do they learn? Five central principles of activity theory are presented, namely activity system as unit of analysis, multi-voicedness of activity, historicity of activity, contradictions as driving force of change in activity, and expansive cycles as possible form of transformation in activity. Together the four questions and five principles form a matrix which is used to present a study of expansive learning in a hospital setting in Finland. In conclusion, implications of the framework for our understanding o...

Abstract: Part I. Theoretical Issues: 1. Activity theory and individual and social transformation Yrjo Engestrom 2. The content and unsolved problems of activity theory Vassily V. Davydov 3. Knowledge as shared procedures Stephen Toulmin 4. Activity theory in a new era Vladimir A. Letkorsky 5. Society versus context in individual development: does theory make a difference? Charles W. Tolman 6. Cultural psychology: some general principles and a concrete example Michael Cole 7. Laws logics and human activity Antti Eskola 8. Collapse creation and continuity in Europe - how do people change? Yrjo-Paavo Hayrynen 9. Activity theory and the concept of integrative levels Eythel Tobach 10. The relevance to psychology of Antonio Gramsci's ideas on activity and common sense Francesco Paolo Colucci Part II. Language and its Acquisition: 11. The expanded dialogic sphere: writing activity and authoring of self in Japanese classrooms Yuji Moro 12. Improvement of school children's reading and writing ability through the formation of linguistic awareness Kyoshi Amano 13. Psychomotor and socio-emotional processes in literacy acquisition: results from an ongoing case study involving a nonvocal cerebral palsic young man Matthias Bujarski Martin Hildebrand-Nilshon and Jane Kordt Part III. Play Learning and Instruction: 14. Play and motivation Pentti Hakkarainen 15. Drama games with six year old children: possibilities and limitations Stig Brostrom 16. Activity formation as an alternative strategy of instruction Joachim Lompscher 17. Activity theory and historic teaching Mariane Hedegaard 18. Didactic models and the problem of intertextuality and polyphony Jacques Carpay and Bert Van Oers 19. Metaphor and learning activity Bernd Fichtner 20. Transcending traditional school learning: teachers' work and networks of learning Reijo Miettinen Part IV. Technology and Work: 21. The theory of activity changed by information technology Oleg K. Tikhomirov 22. Activity theory transformation of work and information systems design Kari Kuutti 23. Innovative learning in work teams: analyzing cycles of knowledge creation in practice Yrjo Engestrom Part V. Therapy and Addiction: 24. Object relations theory and activity theory: a proposed link by way of the procedural sequence model Anthony Ryle 25. The concept of sign in the work of Vygotsky, Winnicott and Bakhtin: further integration of object relations theory and activity theory Mikael Leiman 26. From addiction to self-governance Anja Koski-Jannes.

Abstract: Part 1 Activity theory basics: introduction activity theory and human-computer interaction, Bonnie A. Nardi activity theory as a potential framework for human-computer interaction research, Kari Kuutti computer-mediated activity - functional organs in social and developmental contexts, Victor Kaptelinin studying context - a comparison of activity theory, situated action models and distributed cognition, Bonnie A. Nardi activity theory - implications for human-computer interaction, Victor Kaptelinin. Part 2 Activity theory in practical design: introduction designing educational technology - computer-mediated change, R.K.E. Bellamy applying activity theory to video analysis - how to make sense of video data in HCI, Susanne Bodker tamed by a rose - computers as tools in human activity, Ellen Christiansen joint attention and co-construction of tasks - new ways to foster user-designed collaboration, Arne Raeithel and Boris M. Velichkovsky some reflections on the application of activity theory, Bonnie A. Nardi. Part 3 Activity theory - theoretical development: introduction activity theory and the view from somewhere - team perspectives on the intellectual work of programming, Dorothy Holland and James R. Reeves developing activity theory - the zone of proximal development and beyond, Vladimir P. Zinchenko mundane tool or object of affection? the rise and fall of the postal buddy, Yrjo Engestrom and Virginia Escalante epilogue, Bonnie A. Nardi.