I've seen some of the work place stuff. My real interest here is how and
when children "internalize" a class identity -- i use that term most freely
without any quibble as to what it means except so as to include what Nate
feels when he discusses coming into middle class academia from (I presume)
some kind of working class background --excuse me Nate if I have this all
wrong. In any event, the theme is common enough throughout world
literature.
I know that as I child I developed a notion of "the north and south side of
Foothill Blvd." which really just connoted micro-class differences in the
middle class. Also we have the notorious "wrong side of the tracks" (or the
river if you live in St. Louis). It would seem that children's experiences
of class distinctions and formation of a concept of these would constitute
an interesting space to study internalization. Since Vygotsky clearly
intended that cognition and motivation be treated as parts of holistic
(grin) mental development it seems that these issues might have surfaced
somewhere in the studies of child development. Motivation appropriate to
one's place--as I was reminded tonight watching Gods and Monsters when the
old director reminisces of his youth in post WWI Great Britain.
Thanks again for the refs.
Paul H. Dillon
-----Original Message-----
From: p-prior who-is-at uiuc.edu <p-prior@uiuc.edu>
To: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Date: Thursday, October 21, 1999 9:55 PM
Subject: Re: question on class
>I think Leont'ev's book, Problems of the development of the mind (1981),
>pays explicit attention to class in the theory though not in the research
>as I recall. Luria (1976), Cognitive development: Its cultural and social
>foundations, one of the texts that report the cross-cultural studies
>addresses some issues of class as well as culture. Scribner's workplace
>studies (e.g., in Mind and social practice: Selected writings of Sylvia
>Scribner, 1997) deals with cognitive practices in relation to labour
>positions (e.g., delivery people vs. packers vs. office workers). I'm sure
>there are more studies, but these come to mind.
>
>>Isn't this an example of internalization? Are there any studies of class
in
>>the CHAT tradition or studies in which class figures as an important
>>element/category? At this point it's not crucial for me to know how
"class"
>>is defined as long as it includes a reference to the individual's relation
>>to the productive process in sectoral terms, just whether some notion of
>>class is employed.
>>
>>
>>Paul H. Dillon
>
>