http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky,
1896-1934
Soviet psychologist who developed Genetic approach to the development of concepts in early childhood and youth, tracing the transition through a series of stages of human development, based on the development of the child's social practice. His works were published after his death in 1934 and suppressed in 1936 and were not known in the West until 1958. 
In his student days at the University of Moscow, he read widely in linguistics, sociology, psychology, philosophy and the arts. His systematic work in psychology did not begin until 1924. Ten years later he died of tuberculosis at the age of only 38. In that period, with the collaboration of Aleksandre Luria and A N Leontiev, he launched a series of investigations in developmental psychology, pedagogy and psychopathology. Vygotsky ran a medical practice in his native Byelorussia, actively participating in the development of the Revolution under atrocious conditions and almost total isolation from the West. 
His most famous work is Thought and Language <../../../archive/vygotsky/works/words/lev1.htm>, published shortly after his death, developed for the first time a theory of language development which both anticipated Piaget's genetic psychology - describing the development of language and logical thinking in young children in the course of their interactions with adults and the world around them, interiorising the practical activity expressed in semsori-motor activity, via vocialisations, inner-speech and finally thought - and the development of theoretical, or conceptual knowledge in school-age children as their intuitive knowledge, acquired in their immediate life experiences, comes into active contact with socially transmitted knowledge of the teacher. 
Equally renowned is The Crisis in Psychology <../../../archive/vygotsky/works/crisis/psycri01.htm>, in which Vygotsky makes a systematic critique of all the currents and trends in European psychology of the day, including the dominant so-called Marxist psychology. In the Soviet Union of his times, Stalin fostered pseudo-scientific trends, such as Lysenko's theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics, which used quotations from Marx and Engels or Lenin to support theoretical lines in science as if these were party-political questions which can resolved by reference to political doctrine. 
Vygotsky was strongly influenced by Pavlov <../p/a.htm>, the discoverer of the conditional reflex and leaned towards behaviourism, emphasising the requirement for science to adopt objective methods of investigation, in opposition to the introspective methods of Husserl, for example. Vygotsky did not live long enough to resolve the contradictions into which behaviourism is lead in coming to grips with the manifest reality of subjective consciousness. 
His works were published after his death in 1934 and suppressed in 1936 and were not known in the West until 1958. More recently, linguists and educationalists influenced by Piaget's <../p/i.htm> Genetic Psychology have been drawn towards Vygotsky's work, seeing in it a superior understanding of the relationship between the educator and the educated, in which the educator must "negotiate" with the child or student who is credited with an active role in the learning process. Especially in the United States, Vygotsky has found a following among Community Development workers who value his concept of a "Zone of Proximal Development", in which leadership is able to facilitate intellectual and social development in struggles by communities to change their circumstances, leading to a subsequent benefit in an all-round development of conceptual ability.

Social Development Theory (L. Vygotsky) 
Overview: 
The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) states: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." (p57). 
A second aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive development depends upon the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD): a level of development attained when children engage in social behavior. Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone. 
Vygotsky's theory was an attempt to explain consciousness as the end product of socialization. For example, in the learning of language, our first utterances with peers or adults are for the purpose of communication but once mastered they become internalized and allow "inner speech". 
Vygotsky's theory is complementary to the work of Bandura <bandura.html> on social learning and a key component of situated learning theory <lave.html>. Because Vygotsky's focus was on cognitive development, it is interesting to compare his views with those of Bruner <bruner.html> and Piaget  <piaget.html>. 
Scope/Application: 
This is a general theory of cognitive development. Most of the original work was done in the context of language learning in children (Vygotsky, 1962), although later applications of the framework have been broader (see Wertsch, 1985). 
Example: 
Vygotsky (1978, p56) provides the example of pointing a finger. Initially, this behavior begins as a meaningless grasping motion; however, as people react to the gesture, it becomes a movement that has meaning. In particular, the pointing gesture represents an interpersonal connection between individuals. 
Principles: 
1. Cognitive development is limited to a certain range at any given age. 
2. Full cognitive development requires social interaction. 
References: 
Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 
Wertsch, J.V. (1985). Cultural, Communication, and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. 
Relevant Web Sites:
For more about Vygotsky and his work, see:
<http://www.kolar.org/vygotsky>
<http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky>
<http://mathforum.org/mathed/vygotsky.html>