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10 - A Sociocultural Perspective on Imagination

from Part I - Theoretical Perspectives on the Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2020

By
Tania Zittoun ,
Vlad Glăveanu  and
Hana Hawlina
Edited by
Anna Abraham
Anna Abraham
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

This chapter outlines a sociocultural approach to imagination, an approach that considers imagination at once as an individual and cultural phenomenon, grounded in our embodied experience of the world, in social interactions, and in the use of symbolic resources. We begin by reviewing the classical philosophical debates about the nature of imagination – whether it is based on images or experience and whether it is primarily personal or cultural – in order to position the sociocultural framework that builds on the seminal work of Lev Vygotsky. Following this, we review old and recent sociocultural research in this area, focusing on four main issues: imagination and perception, the phenomenology of art experience, intentionality and imagination, and the imagination as generative. We conclude the chapter with an integrative model – the imagination loop – and a discussion of how imagination plays a fundamental role not only for individual development but also the development of society through the construction of collective futures.

Keywords

imaginationsociocultural psychologyLev Vygotskythe loop modelcreativitycollective futures
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination , pp. 143 - 161
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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