Mike recently asked, "Would someone please explain to me what an =
individual activity is? Is this term used by Leontiev? Engestrom? =
Davydov? This sort of thing often confuses me."
To tell the truth I am confused too. I am confused with the experiments =
conducting in the 80s attempting to examine what is better individual or =
joint activity as if they can exist separately from each other. As if =
the experimenter was not a "collaborator" (or a participant), as Ellice =
Forman recently put it on the net.
I found more helpful to use the notion "solo activity." For me, solo =
and joint activities are aspects constituting a sociocultural activity. =
Any solo activity (or solo aspect of the activity) is embedded in joint =
activity (or in joint aspect of activity). In some regard these aspects =
depend on the considered time frame: for whatever long solo activity, =
there is always a larger time frame that situates it in joint activity =
and whatever short joint activity, there is always a small time frame =
that extracts solo activity. So far I have found not reason to =
distinguish "solo activity" and "individual action" but I'd not be =
surprised if I find it in the future. =20
I think also that recent paper by Keith Sawyer on improvisational =
performance and product creativity [1995, Mind, Culture, and Activity, 2 =
(3), 172-191] is somehow relevant here. Western culture extreme stress =
on product creativity seems to overemphasize the solo aspect of any =
sociocultural activity and de-emphasize joint aspect. But on the other =
hand, I'd not go so far in rejecting solo aspect of activity at all.
Eugene Matusov
UC Santa Cruz