[xmca] déjatel’nost

Dear Andy and others (Bella, thanks for your Russian expertise),
Since a few people have written off line, I will send the quote I was actually referring to from the article “Units” and Levels of Activity (A. A. Leontiev, in Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, Vol. 44/3, 2006). At the bottom of the page, I am resending my access code from my university, so that you can use that code to find this (and many other articles) for free, and you are allowed to print the articles. I believe it is important to situate activity theory within a “system,” including levels, units, methodology, etc. Such a system is not static. Here is the quote:
 
"If activity theory is a system of units of analysis, then this analysis should be undertaken within the framework of one particular science, in this case, psychology. But, if we are going to look at activity not simply as a theoretical construct, but as a methodological category, it become obvious that, in principle, it is impossible to construct a system of concepts of activity theory that would be 'self-sufficient,' that could describe a system of activity as such, in isolation from the "big" system in which it is contained, of which it is a part...'Units of analysis' do not have their own existence, independent of the object of study; a descriptive system cannot be opposed to the system of an object, about which L. K. Naumenko has written very clearly....If we refuse to grant 'units of analysis' a separate existence---and it seems that this is the only solution to the problem--then a special taxonomy of units of activity, and the introduction of a
 new series of units even more so, leads to a simple duplication of the problem. And such a special taxonomy seems hardly possible: the structure of activity as viewed within general psychological theory is inseparable from the structure of consciousness and from personality. Figuratively speaking, this is not so much a theory of activity as it is a theory of 'activity-consciousness-personality." (pp. 38-39)
Good wishes to all,
Dot
Finding on-line full length journal articles, using my university address:
(1).  >library.ucmo.edu
(2).  Click “online resources/databases”
(3).  Click on “Electronic journal search”
(4).  Type in Journal name
(5).  Click on “look up article”
(5).  Under “date” type in the year you want
(6). Under Step 1, click on “journal”
(7). Username: dar8616
        Password: Vygotsky7!
(8). Select the year, they the volume. For example, if you want the article on “Will” by A. N. Leontiev, select  Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, Vol.43/4 (2005), and the last article on that list will be “Will.”
 
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
Received on Mon Sep 1 17:19 PDT 2008