David R. Olson – författare

Essays examine how culture, social interaction, and human relations affect the development of language and thought in children.

Inspired by the seminal work of Jack Goody, a historical anthropologist specializing in the study of social structure and change, Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society gathers diverse perspectives of 20 distinguished historians, anthropologists, psychologists, and educators to address the role of technologies in social stability and change in traditional and modern societies. In this interdisciplinary text, scholars examine the ways in which local languages and cultural traditions, modes of production and communication, patterns of local knowledge and authority affect how people and cultures resist or accommodate demands for such change.With work from acclaimed contributors, this pioneering volume is the first analysis of the influence of Jack Goody. It provides a thorough look at the relations between societies of different practices, customs, and values, determining the mechanisms behind sociocultural stability and change.Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society is intended for graduate students and academics in history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education, as well as academics and all others interested in pursuing the directions and implications of the work and influence of Jack Goody.

An important contribution to the multi-disciplinary study of literacy, narrative and culture, this work argues that literacy is perhaps best described as an ensemble of socially and historically embedded activities of cultural practices. It suggests viewing written language, producing and distributing, deciphering and interpreting signs, are closely related to other cultural practices such as narrative and painting. The papers of the first and second parts illustrate this view in contexts that range from the pre-historical beginnings of tracking signs' in hunter-gatherer cultures, and the emergence of modern literate traditions in Europe in the 17th to 19th century, to the future of electronically mediated writing in times of the post-Gutenberg galaxy. The chapters of the third present results of recent research in developmental and educational psychology. Contributions by leading experts in the field make the point that there is no theory and history of writing that does not presuppose a theory of culture and social development. At the same time, it demonstrates that every theory and history of culture must unavoidably entail a theory and history of writing and written culture.This book brings together perspectives on literacy from psychology, linguistics, history and sociology of literature, philosophy, anthropology, and history of art. It addresses these issues in plain language – not coded in specialized jargon – and addresses a multi-disciplinary forum of scholars and students of literacy, narrative and culture.

The debate on the social and psychological implications of literacy enters a new stage with the publication of this volume. Distinguished scholars provide a sustained and detailed examination of the relations between orality and literacy, the traditions based on them, the functions served by them, and the psychological and linguistic processes recruited and enhanced by them. By shedding the romantic view that literacy is the royal road to rationality and modernity, the volume provides a more functional view of literacy. It places a new emphasis on the relationship between speaking and writing, and highlights the different ways in which people exploit the particular resources of speech and writing for special purposes such as building community, creating records, specialising genres such as prose fiction, enhancing private study and meditation, and enhancing the specialisation and organisation of knowledge.

The debate on the social and psychological implications of literacy enters a new stage with the publication of this volume. Distinguished scholars provide a sustained and detailed examination of the relations between orality and literacy, the traditions based on them, the functions served by them, and the psychological and linguistic processes recruited and enhanced by them. By shedding the romantic view that literacy is the royal road to rationality and modernity, the volume provides a more functional view of literacy. It places a new emphasis on the relationship between speaking and writing, and highlights the different ways in which people exploit the particular resources of speech and writing for special purposes such as building community, creating records, specialising genres such as prose fiction, enhancing private study and meditation, and enhancing the specialisation and organisation of knowledge.

Modes of Thought addresses a topic of broad interest to the cognitive sciences. Its central focus is on the apparent contrast between the widely assumed 'psychological unity of mankind' and the facts of cognitive pluralism, the diverse ways in which people think and the developmental, cultural, technological and institutional factors which contribute to that diversity. Whether described in terms of modes of thought, cognitive styles, or sensibilities, the diversity of patterns of rationality to be found between cultures, in different historical periods, between individuals at different stages of development remains a central problem for a cultural psychology. Modes of Thought brings together anthropologists, historians, psychologists and educational theorists who manage to recognise the universality in thinking and yet acknowledge the cultural, historical and developmental contexts in which differences arise.

For well over a century educational reformers have looked for a breakthrough in the sciences of psychology and pedagogy that would dramatically improve the effectiveness of schooling. This book shows why such an ambition is an illusion. Schools are institutions which attempt to balance the needs of a bureaucratic society that funds them with the personal goals, interests, hopes and ambitions of the students who enroll in them. Reform efforts attempt to realign that balance without any clear conception of how the two are related. This book offers a theoretical account of the relation between the minds of learners and the institutional structure of the school that would account both for the ways that schooling remakes minds and societies and why such institutions are resistant to change.

Modes of Thought addresses a topic of broad interest to the cognitive sciences. Its central focus is on the apparent contrast between the widely assumed 'psychological unity of mankind' and the facts of cognitive pluralism, the diverse ways in which people think and the developmental, cultural, technological and institutional factors which contribute to that diversity. Whether described in terms of modes of thought, cognitive styles, or sensibilities, the diversity of patterns of rationality to be found between cultures, in different historical periods, between individuals at different stages of development remains a central problem for a cultural psychology. Modes of Thought brings together anthropologists, historians, psychologists and educational theorists who manage to recognise the universality in thinking and yet acknowledge the cultural, historical and developmental contexts in which differences arise.

What role has writing played in the development of our modern understanding of language, nature and ourselves? In this historical and developmental account, David Olson offers a new perspective on this process. Reversing the traditional assumption about the relation between speech and writing, he argues that writing provides an important model of the way we think about speech; our consciousness of language is structured by our writing system. In addition, writing provides our dominant models for thinking about nature and the mind, and shows how our understanding of the world - our science - and our understanding of ourselves - our psychology - are by-products of our ways of creating and interpreting written texts. This challenging study draws on recent advances in history, anthropology, linguistics and psychology, and will be of interest to readers across the range of these subjects.

This handbook marks the transformation of the topic of literacy from the narrower concerns with learning to read and write to an interdisciplinary enquiry into the various roles of writing and reading in the full range of social and psychological functions in both modern and developing societies. It does so by exploring the nature and development of writing systems, the relations between speech and writing, the history of the social uses of writing, the evolution of conventions of reading, the social and developmental dimensions of acquiring literate competencies, and, more generally, the conceptual and cognitive dimensions of literacy as a set of social practices. Contributors to the volume are leading scholars drawn from such disciplines as linguistics, literature, history, anthropology, psychology, the neurosciences, cultural psychology, and education.

For well over a century educational reformers have looked for a breakthrough in the sciences of psychology and pedagogy that would dramatically improve the effectiveness of schooling. This book shows why such an ambition is an illusion. Schools are institutions which attempt to balance the needs of a bureaucratic society that funds them with the personal goals, interests, hopes and ambitions of the students who enroll in them. Reform efforts attempt to realign that balance without any clear conception of how the two are related. This book offers a theoretical account of the relation between the minds of learners and the institutional structure of the school that would account both for the ways that schooling remakes minds and societies and why such institutions are resistant to change.

This handbook marks the transformation of the topic of literacy from the narrower concerns with learning to read and write to an interdisciplinary enquiry into the various roles of writing and reading in the full range of social and psychological functions in both modern and developing societies. It does so by exploring the nature and development of writing systems, the relations between speech and writing, the history of the social uses of writing, the evolution of conventions of reading, the social and developmental dimensions of acquiring literate competencies, and, more generally, the conceptual and cognitive dimensions of literacy as a set of social practices. Contributors to the volume are leading scholars drawn from such disciplines as linguistics, literature, history, anthropology, psychology, the neurosciences, cultural psychology, and education.

This volume provides a systematic analysis of the role of literacy in social development, and advances a set of directions that governments and other agencies should take in designing their literacy programmes.

An important contribution to the multi-disciplinary study of literacy, narrative and culture, this work argues that literacy is perhaps best described as an ensemble of socially and historically embedded activities of cultural practices. It suggests viewing written language, producing and distributing, deciphering and interpreting signs, are closely related to other cultural practices such as narrative and painting. The papers of the first and second parts illustrate this view in contexts that range from the pre-historical beginnings of tracking signs' in hunter-gatherer cultures, and the emergence of modern literate traditions in Europe in the 17th to 19th century, to the future of electronically mediated writing in times of the post-Gutenberg galaxy. The chapters of the third present results of recent research in developmental and educational psychology. Contributions by leading experts in the field make the point that there is no theory and history of writing that does not presuppose a theory of culture and social development. At the same time, it demonstrates that every theory and history of culture must unavoidably entail a theory and history of writing and written culture.This book brings together perspectives on literacy from psychology, linguistics, history and sociology of literature, philosophy, anthropology, and history of art. It addresses these issues in plain language – not coded in specialized jargon – and addresses a multi-disciplinary forum of scholars and students of literacy, narrative and culture.

Literacy is a concern of all nations of the world, whether they be classified as developed or undeveloped. A person must be able to read and write in order to function adequately in society, and reading and writing require a script. But what kinds of scripts are in use today, and how do they influence the acquisition, use and spread of literacy? "Scripts and Literacy" systematically explores how the nature of a script affects how it is read and how one learns to read and write it. It reveals the similarities underlying the world's scripts and the features that distinguish how they are read. Scholars from different parts of the world describe several different scripts, e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian Amerindian -- and how they are learned. Research data and theories are presented. This book should be of primary interest to educators and researchers in reading and writing around the world.

When this book was first published, David Olson was examining the developing representation and use of diagonals in the context of much larger questions, questions also explored by Vygotsky, Cassirer, Gombrich, and Bruner. These include such issues as conceptual development, conceptual change, and stage-like transitions in one's knowledge and belief. Some of these problems remain at virtually the same stage of solution to this day. Other problems have indeed been solved or at least come closer to solution, leading the author to think about the precise cognitive representations that allowed for the cognitive growth he examined in such scrupulous detail. The author hopes that both readers and re-readers of this volume will be led to wonder -- as he did while working on the book -- just what there is about a simple diagonal that makes its reproduction so difficult. In so doing, readers will again be reminded of the remarkable resources that children bring to bear on their understanding of the world as well as the blind spots that no simple telling can quite fill in.

The chapters collected in this volume represent the "state-of-the-art" of research on the development of intentional action and intentional understanding--topics that are at the intersection of current research on imitation, early understanding of mental states, goal-directed behavior in nonhuman animals, executive function, language acquisition, and narrative understanding, to name just a few of the relevant foci. Collectively, the contributors demonstrate that intentionality is a key issue in the cognitive and social sciences. Moreover, in a way that was anticipated more than a century ago by the seminal work of J. Mark Baldwin, they are beginning to reveal how the control of action is related in development to children's emerging self-conscious and their increasingly sophisticated appreciation of other people's perspectives. This volume brings together the world's leading researchers on early social and cognitive development in an in-depth exploration of children's understanding of themselves and others.

The chapters collected in this volume represent the "state-of-the-art" of research on the development of intentional action and intentional understanding--topics that are at the intersection of current research on imitation, early understanding of mental states, goal-directed behavior in nonhuman animals, executive function, language acquisition, and narrative understanding, to name just a few of the relevant foci. Collectively, the contributors demonstrate that intentionality is a key issue in the cognitive and social sciences. Moreover, in a way that was anticipated more than a century ago by the seminal work of J. Mark Baldwin, they are beginning to reveal how the control of action is related in development to children's emerging self-conscious and their increasingly sophisticated appreciation of other people's perspectives. This volume brings together the world's leading researchers on early social and cognitive development in an in-depth exploration of children's understanding of themselves and others.

Inspired by the seminal work of Jack Goody, a historical anthropologist specializing in the study of social structure and change, Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society gathers diverse perspectives of 20 distinguished historians, anthropologists, psychologists, and educators to address the role of technologies in social stability and change in traditional and modern societies. In this interdisciplinary text, scholars examine the ways in which local languages and cultural traditions, modes of production and communication, patterns of local knowledge and authority affect how people and cultures resist or accommodate demands for such change.With work from acclaimed contributors, this pioneering volume is the first analysis of the influence of Jack Goody. It provides a thorough look at the relations between societies of different practices, customs, and values, determining the mechanisms behind sociocultural stability and change.Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society is intended for graduate students and academics in history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education, as well as academics and all others interested in pursuing the directions and implications of the work and influence of Jack Goody.

Common sense involves not only the basic beliefs of a particular society but also the fundamental presuppositions of all human knowledge. Because it is both, it continues to bear the marks of ambiguity which characterized its use in the Enlightenment. But it is important to notice that any attempt at the specialization or extension of knowledge makes some assumptions about common sense plays either the role of the conservative voice which must be criticized and replaced by a more disciplined form of inquiry or it is the liberating view which may be used in the criticism, reform, and the eventual restructuring of some dominating and specialized world view. All this is particularly pertinent to the contributors to this volume who are internationally known representatives of the major branches of the social sciences for all of whom common sense is intimately related to their more formal social science inquiries. Volume VI in the Sources in Semiotics Series.

Jerome Bruner is indisputably a major thinker in education. David Olson's volume offers the most coherent account of Bruner's educational thought. This work is divided into: intellectual biography; critical exposition of Bruner's work; the reception and influence of Bruner's work; the relevance of the work today; and excerpts from an interview with Jerome Bruner.This volume is part of a major international reference series providing comprehensive accounts of the work of seminal educational thinkers from a variety of periods, disciplines and traditions. It is the most ambitious and prestigious such project ever published - a definitive resource for at least a generation. The thinkers include: Aquinas, Aristotle, Bourdieu, Bruner, Dewey, Foucault, Freire, Holt, Kant, Locke, Montessori, Neill, Newman, Owen, Peters, Piaget, Plato, Rousseau, Steiner, Vygotsky, West and Wollstonecraft.

Understanding, as Descartes, Locke and Kant all insisted, is the primary 'faculty' of the mind; yet our modern sciences have been slow to advance a clear and testable account of what it means to understand, of children's acquisition of this concept and, in particular, how children come to ascribe understanding to themselves and others. By drawing together developmental and philosophical theories, this book provides a systematic account of children's concept of understanding and places understanding at the heart of children's 'theory of mind'. Children's subjective awareness of their own minds, of what they think, depends on learning a language for ascribing mental states to themselves and others. This book will appeal to researchers in developmental psychology, cognitive science, education and philosophy who are interested in the cognitive and emotional development of children and in the more basic question of what it means to have a mind.

Although the importance of literacy is widely acknowledged in society and remains at the top of the political agenda, writing has been slow to establish a place in the cognitive sciences. Olson argues that to understand the cognitive implications of literacy, it is necessary to see reading and writing as providing access to and consciousness of aspects of language, such as phonemes, words and sentences, that are implicit and unconscious in speech. Reading and writing create a system of metarepresentational concepts that bring those features of language into consciousness as a subject of discourse. This consciousness of language is essential not only to acquiring literacy but also to the formation of systematic thought and rationality. The Mind on Paper is a compelling exploration of what literacy does for our speech and hence for our thought, and will be of interest to readers in developmental psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, and education.

Understanding, as Descartes, Locke and Kant all insisted, is the primary 'faculty' of the mind; yet our modern sciences have been slow to advance a clear and testable account of what it means to understand, of children's acquisition of this concept and, in particular, how children come to ascribe understanding to themselves and others. By drawing together developmental and philosophical theories, this book provides a systematic account of children's concept of understanding and places understanding at the heart of children's 'theory of mind'. Children's subjective awareness of their own minds, of what they think, depends on learning a language for ascribing mental states to themselves and others. This book will appeal to researchers in developmental psychology, cognitive science, education and philosophy who are interested in the cognitive and emotional development of children and in the more basic question of what it means to have a mind.