Play and improvisation

Charles Bazerman (bazerman who-is-at humanitas.ucsb.edu)
Sat, 10 Feb 1996 15:50:51 -0800 (PST)

I have been waiting for someone to bring up in this thread on
play and improvisation LSV's intriguing comment that play involves
following a rule. My class last term spent quite a time puzzling through
that one. What do all of you think that LSV nmeans by that, and how does
it bear on the issues raised in this thread?
The passage I have been referring to begins on page 94 in Mind in
Society, in the essay "The Role of Play in Development" with the comment:
"One could go further and propose that there is no such thing as
play without rules. The imaginary situation of any form of play already
contains rules of behavior, although it may not be a game with formulated
rules laid down in advance. The child imagines himself to be the mother
and the doll to be the child, so he must obey the rule of maternal behavior."

The discussion of rules continues for about two pages, but the concept is
central for the entire chapter.

Chuck Bazerman