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

Abstract

The concept of crisis has a long history across disciplines (medicine, history, political economy, political science, sociology, psychology, history, philosophy of science, etc.). This concept has been used in a variety of different ways. Vygotsky employed the concept of crisis in a critique of psychology as a ‘problematic discipline’. Additionally, Vygotsky used the concept of crisis to refer to the specific mechanisms related to psychological development. More generally, the concept of crisis is crucial for the conceptualisation of the process of development 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 development can become a moment of regenerating cultural-historical activity research.