Abstract
In his latest works, Vygotsky argues for a cultural-historical conception of development where culture through semiotic systems plays a key role. Language is considered by Vygotsky as the semiotic system par excellence through which a cultural-historical development and consciousness emerge. If I agree with Vygotsky’s general theoretical assumption that development is the result of semiotic constructions, I nevertheless consider that it is necessary to investigate the variety and complexity of cultural semiotic systems susceptible to intervening in cultural-historical psychological development from the onset. In this chapter, I will focus on material culture and, more specifically, on material objects and their social (canonical and symbolic) uses which can be considered as one of the most important semiotic systems that children have to appropriate during the pre-verbal period. I shall thus emphasize the semiotic dimension of cognitive processes in early development through material objects. With the appropriation of object uses by the child in child–object–adult triadic interaction, I will attempt to show that material culture needs to be reconsidered as semiotic and engages before language the young child in a cultural-historical development which is based on a rather complex construction of meaning that is elaborated on a material basis through objects, and can thus be submitted to semiotic analysis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Practical intelligence is one of two roots of development considered by Vygotsky as the source of language and verbal thinking. According to Vygotsky’s developmental hypothesis, “non-verbal thought” develops in a phylogenetically different manner, distinct from the communication line, which is qualified by Vygotsky as “pre-intellectual language” (Vygotsky, 1934/1997a).
- 2.
The notion of symbol, in Peircian semiotics, is not identifiable as this (disputed elsewhere) used in psychology. Our concept of symbol is a cultural concept such that we have redefined it in the frame of this text. When Peirce speaks of symbol, he refers to the canonicity, as a rule to the Law. In our analysis, the two defined concepts are articulated.
References
Barthes, R. (1985). L’aventure sémiologique. Paris: Seuil.
Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge, MA; London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Eco, U. (1998). Sémiotique et philosophie du langage. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Eco, U. (2003). De la littérature. Paris: Grasset.
Everaert-Desmedt, N. (1990). Le processus interprétatif. Introduction à la sémiotique de Ch.S. Peirce. Liège, Belgique: Mardaga.
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The theory of affordances. In R. Shaw & J. Bransford (Eds.). An ecological approach to visual perception (pp. 127–143). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
James, W. (1912/1904). Does consciousness exist? Electronic document, Accessed July 20, http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/consciousness.htm
Lee, B. (1985). Intellectual origins of Vygotsky’s semiotic analysis. In J. V. Wertsch (Ed.), Culture, communication and cognition (pp. 66–93). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mecacci, L. (1983). Vygotskij. Antologia di Scritti. Bologne: Il Mulino.
Moro, C. (2000). Vers une approche sémiotique intégrée du développement humain. Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches en Psychologie. Université Bordeaux 2: UFR des sciences sociales et psychologiques Université Bordeaux 2.
Moro, C. (2002). Médiation et développement. Enjeux et perspectives de la théorie de L.S. Vygotski. In M. Wirthner & M. Zulauf (Ed.). A la recherche du temps musical (pp. 137–159). Paris: L’Harmattan.
Moro, C. (2003). L’action éducative et la médiation des significations des objets en crèche. In M. Saada-Robert et V. Solioz (Ed.), « L’intervention éducative en crèche et son rapport à l’observation. Confrontation de trois types d’analyse : sémiotique, didactique, micro-génétique », Actes du colloque du Service de la Recherche en Education (SRED): Constructivisme et Education. Scolariser la petite enfance, Genève, Septembre 2003, 143–152.
Moro, C., & Rodríguez, C. (1998). Towards a pragmatical conception of the object: The construction of the uses of the objects by the baby in the pre-linguistic period. In M. C. D. P. Lyra & J. Valsiner (Eds.). Child development within culturally structured environments. Construction of psychological processes in interpersonal communication (Vol. 4, pp. 53–72). Stamford, Connecticut and London, England: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Moro, C., & Rodríguez, C. (2004a). Formes sociales et (re)construction des significations dans la situation éducative. In C. Moro & R. Rickenmann (Ed.). Situation éducative et significations (pp. 221–245). Raisons Educatives No 8. Bruxelles: De Boeck.
Moro, C., & Rodríguez, C. (2004b). L’éducation et le signe comme conditions de possibilité du développement psychologique. Un questionnement qui transcende les frontières disciplinaires. In G. Chatelanat, C. Moro, & M. Saada-Robert (Ed.), Unité et pluralité des sciences de l’éducation. Sondages au cœur de la recherche (pp. 61–87). Berne: Peter Lang.
Moro, C., & Rodríguez, C. (2005). L’objet et la construction de son usage chez le bébé. Une approche sémiotique du développement préverbal. Berne: Peter Lang.
Moro, C., & Schneuwly, B. (1997). L’outil et le signe dans le développement psychologique. In C. Moro, B. Schneuwly, & M. Brossard (Ed.). Outils et signes. Perspectives actuelles de la théorie de Vygotski (pp. 1–17). Bern: Peter Lang.
Peirce, C. S. (1931-1958). Collected papers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Piaget, J. (1936/1977). La naissance de l’intelligence chez l’enfant. Neuchâtel-Paris: Delachaux & Niestlé.
Roche, D. (1997). Histoire des choses banales. Naissance de la consommation XVIIème – XIXème siècle. Paris: Fayard.
Rodríguez, C., & Moro, C. (2002). Objeto, communicación y símbolo.Una mirada a los primeros usos simbólicos de los objetos. Estudios de psicología, 23/3, 323–338.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1930). The instrumental method in psychology. Accessed July 24, 2009, Published online at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1930/instrumental.htm
Vygotsky, L. S. (1933/1968). Problema soznanjia [Le problème de la conscience]. In A. A. Léontiev et T. B. Riabovoï (Ed.), Psychologija grammatiki (pp. 182–196). Moscou: Isdatjelstvo Moskobskovo Universitjeta.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1934/1997a). Pensée et langage. Paris: La Dispute.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1931/1997b). The history of the development of higher mental functions. In R. W. Rieber (Ed.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky (Vol. 4). New York and London: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1925/1997c). Mind, consciousness, the unconscious. In R. W. Rieber (Ed.), Problems of the theory and history of psychology: Vol. 3. The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky (pp. 62–90). New York and London: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1930/1994). Tool and symbol in child development. In R. Van der Veer & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygosky reader (pp. 99–174). Cambridge: Basil Blackwell.
Wertsch, J. V. (1979). The regulation of human action and the given new structure of private speech. In G. Zivin (Ed.) The development of self-regulation through private speech (pp. 79–98). New York: Wiley.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953/1961). Investigations philosophiques. Paris: Gallimard.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Michalis Kontopodis and Denise Shelley Newnham for their close reading of this text. I am indebted to Sarah Stauffer for her translation and Sophie Tapparel for her final reading and help in editing this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moro, C. (2011). Material Culture, Semiotics and Early Childhood Development. In: Kontopodis, M., Wulf, C., Fichtner, B. (eds) Children, Development and Education. International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0243-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0243-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0242-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0243-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)