In this classic edition of her groundbreaking text Knowledge in
Context, Sandra Jovchelovitch revisits her influential work on the
societal and cultural processes that shape the development of
representational processes in humans.
Through a novel analysis of processes of representation, and drawing on
dialogues between psychology, sociology and anthropology, Jovchelovitch
argues that representation, a social psychological construct relating
Self, Other and Object-world, is at the basis of all knowledge.
Exploring the dominant assumptions of western conceptions of knowledge
and the quest for a unitary reason free from the 'impurities' of person,
community and culture, Jovchelovitch recasts questions related to
historical comparisons between the knowledge of adults and children,
'civilised' and 'primitive' peoples, scientists and lay communities and
examines the ambivalence of classical theorists such as Piaget,
Vygotsky, Freud, Durkheim and Lévy-Bruhl in addressing these issues.
Featuring a new introductory chapter, the author evaluates the last
decade of research since Knowledge in Context first appeared and
reassesses the social psychology of the contemporary public sphere,
exploring how challenges to the dialogicality of representations
reconfigure both community and selfhood in this early 21st century. This
book will make essential reading for all those wanting to follow debates
on knowledge and representation at the cutting edge of social, cultural
and developmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, development and
cultural studies.
