What Critical Psychology Can Gain from Neo-Vygotskian Learning and Development Theory
Ines Langemeyer

In a nutshell, cooperation encompasses according to Critical Psychology the societal provision and disposal of the means of subsistence produced on the basis of a certain historical division of labor. On a psychological level, this cooperative way of life is uniquely human and therefore requires uniquely human competences such as perspective taking as well as developing 'generalized action potence'. These qualities were derived by Critical psychologists from a functional-historical analysis of human nature, thus, contradicting the naturalization of humans’ egoism and atomism which can be found in (neo-)liberal beliefs and bourgeois forms of life (Holzkamp, 1983, Grundlegung der Psychologie). Although the relevance of perspective taking in ontogeny was acknowledged (ibid.), further research on social cognition and development was missing. Due to the influence of radical constructivism, learning was also highlighted by Holzkamp (in his book on „Lernen“, 1995) as self-directed or self-organized learning, so that human development (even as related to ‚expansive learning‘) seemed to be rather independent from teaching.

Michael Tomasello ("Becoming human", 2019) who worked the past 20 years on a neo-vygotskian theory of ontogeny sheds new light on the social dimension of human development. His approach builds on Vygotsky’s insight that it is uniquely human that children can be taught a great number of things such as skills, cognitive capacities and that they learn from sharing emotions and attention with parents, teachers and siblings etc. Tomasello’s main argument is that children learn against the backdrop of these experiences to form shared intentions which then enable them to make new collective experiences that would be inaccessible to isolated individuals. With regard to making experiences in epistemic practices (such as undergraduate research and experience) this direction of psychological theorizing seems promising. The paper presents some suggestions to elaborate further on these questions.

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Ines Langemeyer,
Ines Langemeyer is full professor for science education, vocational education and the philosophy of education at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. She holds a diploma in psychology and a doctorate in philosophy with a special focus on vocational education. Her research focuses on teaching and learning relations research, exploring the many roles digital and other modern technologies play in mediating developing knowledge. She is interested in daily learning practices, and epistemic cultures in higher and other adult education. In her research she is drawing on historical and critical psychological theorizing.