The Concept of Leading Activity in the Works of L. S. Vygotsky and His Followers

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Abstract

The history of the «leading activity» concept emergence in L. S. Vygotsky's works is discussed; some of the development trends of this concept are traced within the cultural-historical theory and the activity approach (L. I. Bozhovich, A. N. Leontiev, D. B. Elkonin, and V. V. Davydov). The influence of Vygotsky's ideas about the leading activity on elaboration of the A. N. Leontiev's psychological theory of activity is analyzed. The heuristic capabilities of the leading activity concept embodied in the works of L. S. Vygotsky are shown. The paper traces the relationship between the concepts of Vygotsky's leading activity and the notion of creative self-activity proposed earlier by S. L. Rubinstein. The introduction of this concept by L. S. Vygotsky becomes a kind of the logical completion of his activity concept of mental development, since along with the previously developed concept of the social situation of development he complements the ideas of the driving forces of the psyche development in ontogeny.

General Information

Keywords: leading activity, social situation of development, the zone of proximal development, periodization of development, cultural-historical theory, activity theory

Journal rubric: Vygotskology

Article type: scientific article

For citation: Lubovsky D.V. The Concept of Leading Activity in the Works of L. S. Vygotsky and His Followers. Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2009. Vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 2–6. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

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Information About the Authors

Dmitry V. Lubovsky, PhD in Psychology, associate professor, Professor of the UNESCO Department “Cultural and Historical Psychology of Childhood”, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7392-4667, e-mail: lubovsky@yandex.ru

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