Activity Theory

Andy Blunden is an independent scholar in Melbourne, Australia, who has written on Activity Theory, collaboration and collective decision making, social movements and Hegelian philosophy. Andy is Secretary of the Marxists Internet Archive, and former editor of Mind, Culture & Activity.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesPart 1Basic Principles of Activity Theory1 Introduction1 Behaviour, Consciousness and Activity2 Substance, Monism and Dualism3 Continuity and Discontinuity4 Actions, Goals and Motives4.1 Operations5 Artefacts5.1 Words, Tools and Signs6 Activities6.1 What Is an Activity6.2 Activities Which Fall Short of Leontyev’s Ideal-Typical Activity7 Motivation7.1 The “Unconscious”?8 The Genealogy of Activity Theory9 Activity Theory and Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory10 Germ Cell and Unit of Analysis11 Activities and Concepts12 Abstract and Concrete13 Analysis by Units and Analysis by Elements13.1 Monism Again14 Subject, Object and Participant Research15 Activities Have a Life Cycle16 The Context of Activities16.1 The Immediate and Societal Contexts of Activities16.2 The Historical Context of Activities17 Perezhivanie18 The Development of the Personality19 Narrative Analysis20 Summary: MotivationPart 2Diverse Research in Activity TheoryIntroduction to Part 22 Building Institutions1 A Child Learning to Read.1.1 Question Asking Reading (King, Griffin, et al.)1.2 Putting Academic Knowledge to Work2 Vasilyuk’s Work on Resolving “Impossible Situations”2.1 Types of “Life-World”2.2 Types of Perezhivanie3 A Wage Worker Employed in a Capitalist Firm3 Activities Characterised by a Narrative1 The Life Course of an Individual Person1.1 Luria’s Romantic Science2 The Narrative of a Patient Visiting a Hospital and Receiving Treatment2.1 The Story of a Female Trainee Surgeon Who Chooses to Leave Training2.2 A Medical Student in Their First Months as a Hospital Doctor3 The History of a Practice, Such as a Science or Profession4 Transformative Projects1 The Activist Stance1.1 Agency1.1.1 Vygotsky on Self-Control1.1.2 Sannino on Collective Decision Making1.1.3 Gutierrez on Transgression1.1.4 Stetsenko on Agency1.1.5 Holland and Edwards on Relational Agency1.1.6 Horton on Freedom1.1.7 Discussion2 The Germ Cell of a New Practice2.1 Marx’s Use of the Idea of a Germ Cell or Unit in Capital2.1.1 The Introduction of Trade into a Traditional Society2.2 Vygotsky Made Word Meaning a Unit of Analysis2.2.1 Concepts and Activities2.3 Vasily Davydov’s Mathematics Curriculum5 Intervening with Activity Theory1 Transforming Activities with a Germ Cell1.1 The Sit-to-Stand Exercise1.2 Junior Doctors Using Purple Pen for Prescribing1.3 Collaborative Learning Spaces1.4 The “Root Model” for Teaching Topics in School6 Political Life1 A Trade Union Organising Workers in an Enterprise2 Rival Political Parties Competing for Government of the Country2.1 Elections2.2 The Formation of Public Opinion7 Social Movements1 The Women’s Liberation Movement1.1 The Life Cycle of the wlm1.2 The wlm as a Learning Process1.3 Decision Making within Projects1.4 Transforming the Object-Concept1.5 Relations between Projects1.6 The Urpraxis of a Movement8 Incoherent Activities1 Activities Characterised by a Shared Motif1.1 The Solar Punk Youth Movement1.2 The Anti-vax Campaign against Public Health Measures9 Formative Interventions1 Construction of Utopian Forms of Activity as Educational Artefacts1.1 Mike Cole et al.’s 5th Dimension1.2 Aydin Bal’s Learning Lab1.3 Fernanda Liberali’s lace2 Postcolonial Projects10 Ethics1 The Ethics of Collaboration1.1 Social Science and Ethics1.2 Modern Ethics1.2.1 Religion and Ethics1.2.2 John Rawls’ Political Liberalism1.2.3 Habermas’s Communicative Ethics1.2.4 Seyla Benhabib1.2.5 Amartya Sen1.2.6 Agnes Heller1.2.7 Alasdair MacIntyre1.2.8 Thick and Thin Ethos1.3 Collaborative Ethics1.4 Participant Researchers2 Social Class3 The Urpraxis of Socialism3.1 The Worldwide Anti-capitalist StruggleConclusionReferencesIndex