"One aspect of sociocultural theory that remains problematic for me is how to
frame affect, which has typically been construed from an individual
perspective, and its role in identity formation."
There is some emerging research on this topic, and from a more
anthropological perspective, I really have enjoyed reading Dorothy Holland's
work on this issue. She has an article entitled "How cultural systems become
desire: A case study of American Romance" (In R.G. Andrade & C. Strauss,
_Human motives and cultural models_) that examines how cultural narratives
about romance serve to guide the construction of affective responses and
frame desire for young women in college. (_Educated in Romance_ does this as
well).
To me, it's quite a challenge to attempt to formulate affect within a
framework of a semiotic-material practices and in terms of "human action".
There's a way in which affect has a lot to do with one's
stance-toward-activity as we've discussed before, and perhaps even toward a
stance constructed across various activities. And yet the relation is
perhaps never constant, which is perhaps one reason why many research
psychologists have been so reluctant to study affect.
Bill Penuel
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PreventionInventions
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