ABSTRACT
In this chapter I will provide a selective overview of the approach to research adopted and developed by Vygotsky and his colleagues in post-revolutionary Russia. I have written elsewhere about the difficulties which confront nonRussian speakers when they attempt to read and understand Vygotsky’s writing (Daniels, 2001). In addition to difficulties with translation and cultural differences in orientation to certain key psychological constructs, Van der Veer and Valsiner (1991) comment on the unfinished or half-developed nature of some of Vygotsky’s ideas which in no small part have their origins in the thoughts of others. His attempts at synthesis and development of a wide range of ideas have their own developmental trajectory and present their own challenges of interpretation. As Meshcheryakov notes:
There are many reasons for the difficulties readers encounter in analyzing and understanding Vygotsky’s terminology. He developed his psychology in constant direct and indirect dialogue with many other authors. In doing so, he absorbed and processed all the ideas and terms that he believed could be useful. These ranged from the philosophy of Spinoza and Marx to the American behaviorism of Watson and the linguistics of Sapir. However, when one meets a seemingly familiar term borrowed from some predecessor in Vygotsky’s writings, one should keep in mind that he was likely to have modified the term’s meaning.
