[Studyguide for Culture in Minds and Societies: Foundations of Cultural Psychology by Valsiner, Jaan, ISBN 9780761935827] (By: Cram101 Textbook Reviews) [published: March, 2011]

In short, Culture in Minds and Societies: Foundations of Cultural Psychology presents a new look at the relationship between people and society, produces a semiotic theory of cultural psychology and provides a dynamic treatment of culture in human lives. This book makes a decisive break from the post-modernist theoretical framework that considers knowledge as local and situation-specific. It restores the goal of construction of general knowledge to the social sciences. While recognizing the uniqueness of all human personal experience from birth to death, it emphasizes the universality of cultural organization of human minds and societies. Culture in Minds and Societies: 1 Foundations of Cultural Psychology 1 Author’s Preface 2 Jaan Valsiner 4 List of Contents 5 The question of transfer of culture 5 Semiotic basis for culture: the legacy of Charles S. Peirce 5 Looking at “the others”: multiple ways 5 Bi-directionality of cultural understanding: partnership 5 Summary: oppositions in the semiotic fields of the self 5 The family: Ideologically presented unity of a part of the kin group 5 Crossing borders: within personal cultures, and between 6 Unity of reasoning through abduction 6 Abductive reasoning in practice 6 Overcoming uncertainties: probability as logic 6 Cultural-historical promotion of affective field construction 6 Promotion of different levels of affective sign fields in different societies 7 Internalization and externalization 7 A --- is (or is not) different from-- B 13 Social anthropology, folk psychology, and cultural psychology 14 The question of transfer of culture 20 X is the current norm X is the current norm 26 Semiotic basis for culture: the legacy of Charles S. Peirce 27 Figure 1.6. Memorial in a park: symbolic flavoring of the surrounding 30 Figure 1.15. Autoregulation and heteroregulation of signs 50 Summary: Culture as semiotic regulation system 57 Society as a Dynamic System 67 “Belonging” to society: a real effort at an impossible task 70 Societies and communities 75 Social Structures and their Differentiation 79 Figure 2.5. Differentiation of community/society structures 84 Why talk? Social control over primary social group 98 Negotiation of asymmetries of power 104 Figure 3.2. An illustration of Peirce’s “Boundary Question” 109 IS THIS BOUNDARY 109 B. The “boundary question” within irreversible time 109 TIME 109 Figure 3.3. Suggested imperatives from distinctions made 112 A generic semiotic mediator—“their rights to be [X, Y, or Z]” 114 Looking at “the others”: multiple ways 114 Beyond the practical distinctions: dualities within the whole 123 Duality in the social sciences: Dialogical models 125 The Dialogical Self (DS) Theory 127 The ego-centered perspective of DS 131 143 The interviewer brings a higher level semiotic organizer (God's will) into the dialogue. That move immediately challenges the interviewee's meaning complex. This challenge leads to circumvention—overcoming of the strong dislike when ordered by the deity (see also Valsiner, 1999), whose orders could get the person to swing to the opposite extreme—get tattoos all over her body. 143 Quasi-stability of social identity environments 148 The family: ideologically presented unity of a part of the kin group 149 Family as an organized small group 153 Marriages as arranged frameworks 160 Social organization of marriage 163 Forms of marriage 169 Figure 4.1. Marriage forms as transformable structures 170 The polygynic marriage 172 The polyandrous marriage 188 The conjoint (polygynandrous) marriage 192 The monogamous marriage 197 Figure 4.3. Constraining marriage forms to serial monogamy 198 Summary: Minimal communities in action 201 Cultural psychology of pilgrimage 209 The CONSTRUCTION c child may hit the cat 253 Strategic uses of reasoning 261 Freedom for making "the right" choice 261 Conclusions: abduction as process of innovation 262 Affect—feeling fields and emotion categories 269 Universal semantic primitives and the duality of meaning fields 271 Figure 7.3. The duality field of depressed 272 Affect in boundary crossing 275 Highest semiotic fields: personal “life philosophies” 281 Rituals as promoters of hyper-generalized feeling fields 288 Promotion of different levels of affective sign fields in different societies 292 Cultural framing of affective development 295 Dynamics of affective fields: coordination of person al and collective cultures 297 Level of VERBALIZATION THRESHOLD (negotiated) 301 Generali- pro-verb anti-verb 301 Internalization and externalization 303 Internalization/ externalization and psychological distancing 306 Structure of the internalization/ externalization process 308 Figure 7.9. The laminal model of internalization/externalization 310 Conclusion: Functions of the multi-level affective self-regulation 319 327 Figure 8. 1. The methodology cycle 327 Figure 8.2. . C. L. Morgan’s scheme of two inductions: the integrating role of the subjective (from Morgan, 1894, p. 48) 329 Looking at culturally directed psychological phenomena 331 OF MEANINGS/MEMORIES 334 Systemic Causality 336 What is experiment in the realm of cultural psychology? 341 The conditional-genetic analysis 346 Generality expressed within specificity 350 Foundations of Cultural Psychology......Page 1 Author’s Preface......Page 2 Jaan Valsiner......Page 4 The family: Ideologically presented unity of a part of the kin group......Page 5 Cultural-historical promotion of affective field construction......Page 6 Internalization and externalization......Page 7 A --- is (or is not) different from-- B......Page 13 Social anthropology, folk psychology, and cultural psychology......Page 14 The question of transfer of culture......Page 20 X is the current norm X is the current norm......Page 26 Semiotic basis for culture: the legacy of Charles S. Peirce......Page 27 Figure 1.6. Memorial in a park: symbolic flavoring of the surrounding......Page 30 Figure 1.15. Autoregulation and heteroregulation of signs......Page 50 Summary: Culture as semiotic regulation system......Page 57 Society as a Dynamic System......Page 67 “Belonging” to society: a real effort at an impossible task......Page 70 Societies and communities......Page 75 Social Structures and their Differentiation......Page 79 Figure 2.5. Differentiation of community/society structures......Page 84 Why talk? Social control over primary social group......Page 98 Negotiation of asymmetries of power......Page 104 TIME......Page 109 Figure 3.3. Suggested imperatives from distinctions made......Page 112 Looking at “the others”: multiple ways......Page 114 Beyond the practical distinctions: dualities within the whole......Page 123 Duality in the social sciences: Dialogical models......Page 125 The Dialogical Self (DS) Theory......Page 127 The ego-centered perspective of DS......Page 131 The interviewer brings a higher level semiotic organizer (God's will) into the dialogue. That move immediately challenges the interviewee's meaning complex. This challenge leads to circumvention—overcoming of the strong dislike when ordered by the deity (see also Valsiner, 1999), whose orders could get the person to swing to the opposite extreme—get tattoos all over her body.......Page 143 Quasi-stability of social identity environments......Page 148 The family: ideologically presented unity of a part of the kin group......Page 149 Family as an organized small group......Page 153 Marriages as arranged frameworks......Page 160 Social organization of marriage......Page 163 Forms of marriage......Page 169 Figure 4.1. Marriage forms as transformable structures......Page 170 The polygynic marriage......Page 172 The polyandrous marriage......Page 188 The conjoint (polygynandrous) marriage......Page 192 The monogamous marriage......Page 197 Figure 4.3. Constraining marriage forms to serial monogamy......Page 198 Summary: Minimal communities in action......Page 201 Cultural psychology of pilgrimage......Page 209 The CONSTRUCTION c child may hit the cat......Page 253 Freedom for making "the right" choice......Page 261 Conclusions: abduction as process of innovation......Page 262 Affect—feeling fields and emotion categories......Page 269 Universal semantic primitives and the duality of meaning fields......Page 271 Figure 7.3. The duality field of depressed......Page 272 Affect in boundary crossing......Page 275 Highest semiotic fields: personal “life philosophies”......Page 281 Rituals as promoters of hyper-generalized feeling fields......Page 288 Promotion of different levels of affective sign fields in different societies......Page 292 Cultural framing of affective development......Page 295 Dynamics of affective fields: coordination of person al and collective cultures......Page 297 Generali- pro-verb anti-verb......Page 301 Internalization and externalization......Page 303 Internalization/ externalization and psychological distancing......Page 306 Structure of the internalization/ externalization process......Page 308 Figure 7.9. The laminal model of internalization/externalization......Page 310 Conclusion: Functions of the multi-level affective self-regulation......Page 319 Figure 8. 1. The methodology cycle......Page 327 Figure 8.2. . C. L. Morgan’s scheme of two inductions: the integrating role of the subjective (from Morgan, 1894, p. 48)......Page 329 Looking at culturally directed psychological phenomena......Page 331 OF MEANINGS/MEMORIES......Page 334 Systemic Causality......Page 336 What is experiment in the realm of cultural psychology?......Page 341 The conditional-genetic analysis......Page 346 Generality expressed within specificity......Page 350 Culture in Minds and Societies makes a decisive break from the post-modernist. theoretical framework that considers knowledge as local and situation-specific. and restores the goal of construction of general knowledge to the social sciences. While recognizing the uniqueness of all human personal experience from birth to. death, it emphasizes the universality of cultural organization of human minds. and societies. This book presents a new look at the relationship between people and society, . produces a semiotic theory of cultural psychology and provides a dynamic treatment. of culture in human Approaches to culture : semiotic bases for cultural psychology Society and community : interdependence of social webs Making oppositions : dialogical self and dualities in meaning making Minimal communities and their organization : kinship groups, families and marriage forms Culture wholes on the move : maintenance and crossing of boundaries in the semiotic universe Thinking as a cultural process Semiotic fields in action : affective guiding of the internalization/externalization process Methodology for cultural psychology : systemic, qualitative and idiographic. This book makes a break from the post-modernist theoretical framework that considers knowledge as local and situation-specific and restores the goal of construction of general knowledge to the social sciences. While recognizing the uniqueness of all human personal experience from birth to death, it emphasizes the universality of cultural organization of human minds and societies. This book presents a new look at the relationship between people and society, produces a semiotic theory of cultural psychology and provides a dynamic treatment of culture in human lives