L. S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory: globalisation, post-non-classical paradigm and digitalisation

Abstract

L. S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory postulates the underlying unity of psychological and social factors contributing to the formation of man. It explains both internal factors determining the evolution of consciousness and social trends in social development. The paper highlights the role of L. S. Vygotsky’s theory in the interpretation of the changes in the modern human consciousness. These changes are caused by new culture tools of knowledge building currently created in the information space. The author emphasises the following ideas proposed by L. S. Vygotsky: 1) signs are functionally analogous to tools; 2) culture intentionally creates objects to realise its communicative-significative function; 3) sign utilization leads to the formation of fundamentally new associative bonds in the brain. Such bonds create a novel regulatory mechanism of human behaviour; 4) social determination of man is achieved with the help of signs; 5) the formation and functioning of mind depend on the means of thought and individual sociocultural experience; 6) ‘socialised speech’ influences the evolution of inner speech as a specific type of thinking-in-words and the logic of thinking; 7) the historical evolution of human culture plays the key role in the formation and functioning of individual psyches; 8) due to sign usage the nature of human evolution changed from biological to sociohistorical; consequently, mankind’s evolution significantly depends on the signs used by individuals. Modern digital technologies actively generate signs whose nature is contrary to verbal ones. The process of globalisation and the values of the post-non-classical mindset sustain generation of such signs. Globalisation creates a standardised and maximally regimented reality, which contributes to the reinforcement of reduplication as the socially approved way of knowledge use. What is more, globalisation requires revision of the traditional humanistic values and customs. Post-non-classical thinking enhances individuals’ feelings of insecurity and uncertainty, thus nearly making them act within the framework of conventional behavioural and mental models.