Discussing the Concept of Crisis in Cultural-historical Activity Research: a Dialectical Perspective

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Why is it important?

The concept of crisis has a long history across disciplines (medicine, history, political econ- omy, political science, sociology, psychology, history, philosophy of science, etc.). This con- cept has been used in a variety of diferent ways. Vygotsky employed the concept of crisis in a critique of psychology as a ‘problematic discipline’. Additionally, Vygotsky used the con- cept of crisis to refer to the specifc mechanisms related to psychological development. More generally, the concept of crisis is crucial for the conceptualisation of the process of develop- ment of Vygotsky’s project. From a dialectical perspective, a crisis is a critical moment of a dynamic, contradictory, developmental process. The elaboration of the concept of crisis as a part of a broader, dialectical vision of society in the long-term process of its historical devel- opment can become a moment of regenerating cultural-historical activity research