Social Psychology of Development: Integrating the Ideas of L.S. Vygotsky and A.V. Petrovsky

Abstract

The article discusses the productivity — in terms of the further development of the cultural-historical tradition — of turning to social psychology, in particular, to the approach developed by A.V. Petrovsky that is in many respects connected with the cultural-historical theory. We argue for the establishment of social psychology of development as a separate interdisciplinary field of scientific knowledge focused on the development of the individual in a complex and rapidly changing, contantly transforming global world. We suppose that the trend in the development of cultural-historical theory towards social psychology (a step in this direction) can actually be traced already, as evidenced by the increasing use of socio-psychological concepts in studies, as well as socio-psychological strategies and research methods.