New theories have emerged that are multicultural and multidisciplinary, unlike the first three theories. These theories are “new” in that their applications to human development are relatively recent, although their roots are ancient.

The central thesis of sociocultural theory is that human development results from the dynamic interaction between developing persons and their surrounding society. Culture is viewed not as something external that impinges on developing persons but as integral to their development every day via the social context (all the dynamic systems described in Chapter 1).

The pioneer of the sociocultural perspective was Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), a psychologist from the former Soviet Union. In the United States, Urie Bronfrenbrenner (1917-2005), an American also born in the Soviet Union, was an early advocate of this approach: His ecological approach emphasizes the social context of development. (The basics of the ecological approach are accepted by virtually all contemporary developmentalists, and therefore were described in Chapter 1.)

Vygotsky noted that each community in his native land (comprising Asians and Europeans of many faiths and many languages) taught children whatever beliefs and habits they valued. For example, his research included how farmers used tools, how illiterate people thought of abstract ideas, and how children learned in school.

In his view, each person, schooled or not, develops with the guidance of more skilled members of his or her society, who are tutors or mentors in an apprenticeship in thinking (Vygotsky, 2012). Just as, in earlier centuries, a young person might become an apprentice to an experienced artisan, learning the trade, Vygotsky believed that adults teach children how to think by explaining ideas, asking questions, and repeating values.

To describe this process, Vygotsky developed the concept of guided participation, the method used by parents, teachers, and entire societies to teach novices the skills and habits expected within their culture. Tutors engage learners (also called apprentices) in joint activities, offering instruction and “mutual involvement in several widespread cultural practices with great importance for learning: narratives, routines, and play” (Rogoff, 2003, p. 285). Active apprenticeship and sensitive guidance are central to sociocultural theory because each person depends on others to learn. This process is informal, pervasive, and social.

All cultural patterns and beliefs are social constructions, not natural laws, according to sociocultural theorists. These theorists find customs to be powerful, shaping the development of every person, and they contend that some assumptions need to shift to allow healthier development. Vygotsky stressed this point, arguing that disabled children should be educated (Vygotsky, 1994b). This is a cultural belief that has become law in the United States but is not yet accepted in many other nations.

According to sociocultural theory, all learning is social, whether people are learning a manual skill, a social custom, or a language. As part of the apprenticeship of thinking, a mentor (parent, peer, or professional) finds the learner’s zone of proximal development, an imaginary area surrounding the child, which contains the skills, knowledge, and concepts that the learner is close (proximal) to acquiring but cannot yet master without help.

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Through sensitive assessment of each learner, mentors engage mentees within that zone. Together, in a “process of joint construction,” new knowledge is attained (Valsiner, 2006). The mentor must avoid two opposite dangers: boredom and failure. Some frustration is permitted, but the learner must be actively engaged, never passive or overwhelmed (see Figure 2.2).

To make this seemingly abstract process more concrete, consider an example: a father teaching his daughter to ride a bicycle. He begins by rolling her along, supporting her weight while telling her to keep her hands on the handlebars, to push the right and left pedals in rhythm, and to look straight ahead. As she becomes more comfortable and confident, he begins to roll her along more quickly, praising her for steadily pumping. Within a few lessons, he is jogging beside her, holding only the handlebars.

When the father senses that his daughter can balance, he urges her to pedal faster while he loosens his grip. Without realizing it, she rides on her own.

Note that this is not instruction by preset rules or reinforcement. Sociocultural learning is active: No one learns to ride a bike by reading and memorizing written instructions, and no good teacher merely repeats a prepared lesson. Also note that the father is not the only teacher here. The culture also teaches, via the child having seen other people on bikes, and via special bikes for young children. All such bikes are smaller, of course, but some have no pedals and some have training wheels, both of which are cultural artifacts that can help guide participation in bike riding.

Because each learner has personal traits and experiences, education must be individualized. Learning styles vary: Some people need more assurance; some learn best by looking, others by hearing.

A mentor must sense when support or freedom is needed and how peers can help (they may be the best mentors). Skilled teachers know when the zone of proximal development expands and shifts.

Excursions into and through the zone of proximal development are everywhere. At the thousand or so science museums in the United States, children ask numerous questions, and adults guide their scientific knowledge (Haden, 2010). Physical therapists tailor exercises to the particular patient and the surrounding context. For example, when physical therapists provide exercise for patients in intensive care, they not only take into account the illness but also the culture of the ICU (Pawlik & Kress, 2013).

In another example that occurs for every Western child, learning to sit at the table and eat with a knife and fork is a long process, with many steps of guided participation. Parents do not “spoon-feed” their 3-year-olds or expect them to cut their own meat. Instead they find the proper zone of proximal development, and provide appropriate tools and experiences.

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In general, mentors, attuned to ever-shifting abilities and motivation, continually urge a new competence—the next level, not the moon. For their part, learners ask questions, show interest, and demonstrate progress, which guides and inspires the mentors. When education goes well, both are fully engaged and productive within the zone of proximal development. Particular skills and processes vary enormously, but the overall interaction is the same.

The sociocultural perspective has led contemporary scientists to consider social context in every study. Earlier theorists and researchers are criticized for failing to do so. This newer approach considers not only differences between one nation and another, but also differences between one region and another, between one cohort and another, between one ethnic group and another, and so on.

This approach has led to a wealth of provocative findings, many of which are described later. A sociocultural perspective has been particularly helpful in early childhood education (Woodrow, 2014), as children have diverse cultural experiences by the time they enter preschool.

Culture is not a monolith, with every child in a particular community, or even a particular family, experiencing the same influences. Instead, culture needs to be considered person by person: Each individual participates in some aspects of the community culture while rejecting or modifying others.

Consider two sisters:

When the local constables knocked on Chona’s parents’ door with their wooden staffs, searching for children to send to the school, her parents hid their children under the wooden bed just inside the door and told the constables that the children did not exist. But Chona’s sister Susana, ever rebellious, leaped out from under the bed and yelled … “I want to go to school.”

[Rogoff, 2011, p. 5]

These two sisters, both speaking a local language, raised in the same tribal culture (Mayan, in San Pedro, Guatemala), nevertheless followed distinct cultural paths. Later Susana refused an arranged marriage and moved to a nearby town, unlike her unschooled sister who married a man she did not like and stayed close to her childhood home all her life. Culture shapes everyone, but each person experiences it differently.

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