[Xmca-l] Re: vygotsky's theory and symbolic interactionism

[Glassman, Michael]

Paul,

I think your view of symbolic interactionism (as related to Mead) as being a tool of power and domination is more reflective of Mead's theory than you might think.  Have you looked at labeling theory?  Also a trajectory taken by Mead's students which seems pretty close to what you want to day.  I'm not sure what role Vygotsky would play in this.

Michael
________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] on behalf of Dr. Paul C. Mocombe [pmocombe@mocombeian.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 5:58 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity; Mike Cole
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: vygotsky's theory and symbolic interactionism

At the heart of vygotsky's and mead's work is hegels master/slave dialectic as they apply it to the constitution of identity, I.e. Consciousness...As though there is no consciousness/identity prior to socialization via language and symbolic interaction.  This is similar to the identitarian logic of frankfurt school logician theodor adorno.  I have a problem with that as I view language and symbolic interaction as always an element of power and domination.  In essence my research question is, "is there a sui generis consciousness that exist prior to socialization/domination by symbols and language.  Haitian metaphysics says yes...it exists at the subatomic particle level and is just as real as the i and me of language and symbolic interaction.  Zora Neale hurston in her ethnographic field work in haiti was attempting to theorize about this in her literature...it is the essence of who we are.  I may have to go into the realm of physics to make sense of this metaphysical logic.


Dr. Paul C. Mocombe
President
The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc.
www.mocombeian.com
www.readingroomcurriculum.com
www.paulcmocombe.info

<div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> </div><div>Date:03/31/2014  11:53 PM  (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: Mike Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>,"eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: vygotsky's theory and symbolic interactionism </div><div>
</div>Paul,
And another piece you might be interested in:
Winter, J. A. and Goldfield, E. C. (1991), Caregiver-Child Interaction in
the Development of Self: The Contributions of Vygotsky, Bruner, and Kaye to
Mead's Theory. Symbolic Interaction, 14: 433-447.
doi: 10.1525/si.1991.14.4.433

I suspect a Hegelian/Marxian root is shared between Vygotsky and Mead. Mead
said at one point that his social psychology was an attempt to do what
Hegel did, with the hopes that it would be "less incorrigible." I have the
exact quote somewhere if you're interested.

The Vygotsky-Hegel connections have been much debated here on XMCA, but it
seems that there is good reason to think that Vygotsky would have been
influenced by Hegel, whether directly or indirectly (quick duck - I think
they'll be some words flying soon in defense of one side or the other of
this argument...).

I'm interested in this intersection as well, more in terms of links and
complementarities with Goffman and Vygotsky, but I'm happy to chat about
the Mead/Vygotsky link.

-greg


On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 5:53 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> Anne Edwards has an article on this topic in *The Cambridge Companion to
> Vygotsky".
>
> I have inquired of Anne, and would of anyone interested, to understand
> where the concept of culture appears in the Meadian framework.
>
> mike
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 1:09 PM, Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <
> pmocombe@mocombeian.com> wrote:
>
> > I am working on a paper comparing and contrasting george herbert mead's
> > symbolic interactionism with
> > vygotsky's theory....any suggestions anyone?
> >
> > Dr. Paul C. Mocombe
> > President
> > The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc.
> > www.mocombeian.com
> > www.readingroomcurriculum.com
> > www.paulcmocombe.info
> >
> > Race and Class Distinctions within Black Communities
> > www.routledge.com/9780415714372
>



--
Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson