Transformation of Participation in Cultural Activities Chapter 2

Culture and the Individual: Symbiosis People and cultural communities mutually contribute to the development of the other

Scientific Inquiry Methodologies –Early cross-cultural studies compared other cultures with Western cultures and using Western techniques and definitions. –These studies of intelligence and based on the writings of Piaget assumed that intelligence and competence could best be observed by providing people with novel situations and measuring their ability to solve problems. –Correlations were actually found between demonstrated competence and Western schooling Can we infer that Western schooling makes you more intelligent?

Data Collection thru the Technique of Syllogism Schooling challenges people to accept a premise as truth and base conclusions on the stated facts. In other cultures, truth and fact can only be based on witnessed accounts. To employ hypothetical reasoning is illogical and consequently a violation of the very thing being measured. –Could that very reasoning be implicit in certain components of American culture and youth education? –Is there a relation between this reasoning and the challenge that many students employ when they inquire as to the relevance of their learning?

Researchers Questioning Assumptions Traditional thinking about individuals and culture relate to the assumption that conclusions are general and all inclusive of the participants Contemporary thinking reflects a view that individual and group distinctions can be found within cultural expressions –Nestling effect

Margaret Mead Mead’s pioneering work through direct observations of people within cultural context offers great insight towards human development within culture Progression of Cultures

Lev Vygotsky Socio cultural perspective which purports that human development (i.e., intellectual) is a function of the experiences and exchanges which are, in part, derived from one’s respective cultural interactions

Whitings Psychocultural Model Focus on the relations between the development of individuals and features of their immediate environments, social partners, and institutional and cultural systems and values –Development is a function of a chain of events which start with environmental factors, historical events, and social adaptation Scholars should unpackage the variables they employ to investigate human development

Erie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model Development is a function of numerous systemic models which collectively contribute to explain one’s environmental experiences –Microsystem –Mesosystem –Ecosystem –Macrosystem –Chronosystem

Further Conceptualization Development is a function sociocultural exchanges (most all theorists allude to this) Can we infer that misdevelopment is, in part, a function of the deprivations of our social institutions? –Parent/child interactions Child rearing practices Communication –Environmental safety and exploration –Family and Peer interactions Perhaps our sociocultural experiences must provide us with certain experiences which promote the development of certain skills that enable us to be contributing members to society