ABSTRACT
Making distinctions includes the option of not making a specific distinction; thus the claims about no distinction between person and social context
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is itself a form of distinction. The question, then, is-what are the theoretical potential benefits (and costs) of one or another form of looking at personcontext relations? Within contemporary sociocultural psychology and activity theory the notion of fusion between personal and social worlds abounds (Rogoff, 1990, 1992, 1993; Rogoff, Chavajay & Matusov, 1993). This language use strives toward representation of the issue of person-society relations in terms of a kind of symbiosis, or communion. In contrast, terminology that reflects the oppositional (or dialectical) unity of person and society can highlight the uniqueness of the person in the context of social suggestions (Valsiner, 1997). Of course, there can exist terminology that covers a middle ground between symbiosis and counterposition. Both internalization and appropriation notions refer to such middle ground.
