ABSTRACT
This chapter begins to take steps towards the further clarification and development of an approach which will satisfy the requirements. It seeks to get beyond broad formulations about the relevance of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky’s insights, and to harness his ideas and influence more carefully in order that its value may be more realized than postulated. Vygotsky drew on many thinkers in his work, but the most basic influence came from Marx and Engels. However, the precise nature of this influence is crucial. He actively opposed the idea of re-hashing existing Marxist theory, and instead undertook the work of critique and re-constitution of existing psychological science on the basis of the method of historical materialism. In relation to consciousness as a whole, Vygotsky’s point is that the essence of its development is to be found in changes in its overall interfunctional organisation.
