Man
creates himself through his actions
The task is to learn about the cultural-historical school in psychology
which sees man as both created by and creator of his surroundings.
Vygotsky was one of the creators of this theory.
In human activity theory,
the basic unit of analysis is human activity (work). Human activities are
driven by certain needs where people wish to achieve a certain purpose.
This activity is usually mediated by one or more instruments or tools (the
concept of mediation is central to the whole theory).
The carpenter uses a saw and a hammer to
produce a house out of wood and the like, the teacher uses language,
books, pictures, maps etc. to teach her pupils geography.
However
the carpenter building a house is not alone in the world. He works
together with other carpenters, as well as with other building workers.
The ensemble of carpenters divide their work between them. The ways of
doing work, grounded in tradition and shared by a group of carpenters,
nurses or the like, we call practice or praxis.
When
getting trained as a carpenter or nurse one gets to share this praxis. At
the same time each individual who holds a praxis continues the praxis, and
he or she changes it as well, by coming up with new ways of doing things.
It is this praxis that allows us to talk about more than just individual
skills, knowledge and judgement, and not just about a "generic"
human being. In other words, we can talk about the appropriateness of a
certain tool for a certain praxis.
Human
beings mediate their activity by artifacts: The carpenter uses a hammer to
drive a nail, the nurses use language and records to coordinate their
actions towards the patients and each other, etc. Tools, means to divide
work, norms and language can all be seen as artifacts for the activity:
they are made by humans and they mediate the relations among human beings
or between people and the material or product in different stages.
One of
the major contributions of Vygotsky was that he also viewed language and
symbol systems as psychological tools for developing the human condition.
Artifacts are there for us when we are introduced into a certain activity,
but they are also a product of our activity, and as such they are
constantly changed through the activity. This "mediation" is
essential in the ways in which we can understand artifacts through
activity theory.
