ABSTRACT
Before following the line of argument into Marxism and the critical psychology of development, some reorientation is required, for the notion of development has not yet been tackled head-on.
The previous two chapters have surveyed some versions of the social context approach to development (focusing on appeals to Vygotsky) and some versions of the social construction approach. Both contemporary and somewhat earlier formulations have been reviewed. The appeals to Vygotsky described in Chapter 2 insist that ‘the social is natural’. Developmental change may be treated as social in important ways, but remains directed by functional adaptation. Development itself is taken for granted somewhat, and not subject to critical examination.
