Agency and Transformation: Motives, Mediation, and Motion

Agency is essential for addressing social problems, and this book explores how cultural-historical activity theory can inform research and practice to promote positive change. Three motifs—motive, mediation, and motion—inspired by Vygotsky's work help us understand agency in social and cultural contexts. Chapters address power, freedom, and the future in various settings, such as adolescence, school exclusion, children's activism, Indigenous communities, environmental activism, homelessness, childbirth, and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Format: Hardback
Length: 426 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Understanding and promoting agency are essential to addressing urgent social problems of our time. Through agency, we can take transformative steps toward the future that ought to be. This book showcases how contemporary conceptualizations from cultural-historical activity theory can inform research and practice that fosters positive change. At the core of this book's novel approach to agency and transformation are three motifs: motives, mediation, and motion. These motifs draw inspiration from the original work of Vygotsky and subsequent generations of scholarship, enabling us to understand agency in ways that recognize the social and cultural aspects of agency while maintaining individuals' contributions to changing their own lives and the lives of others. The chapters address power, freedom, and the future in various contexts, including adolescence, school exclusion, children's activism, Indigenous communities, environmental activism, homelessness, childbirth, and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Understanding and promoting agency are essential to addressing urgent social problems of our time. Through agency, we can take transformative steps toward the future that ought to be. This book showcases how contemporary conceptualizations from cultural-historical activity theory can inform research and practice that fosters positive change. At the core of this book's novel approach to agency and transformation are three motifs: motives, mediation, and motion. These motifs draw inspiration from the original work of Vygotsky and subsequent generations of scholarship, enabling us to understand agency in ways that recognize the social and cultural aspects of agency while maintaining individuals' contributions to changing their own lives and the lives of others. The chapters address power, freedom, and the future in various contexts, including adolescence, school exclusion, children's activism, Indigenous communities, environmental activism, homelessness, childbirth, and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Understanding and promoting agency are essential to addressing urgent social problems of our time. Through agency, we can take transformative steps toward the future that ought to be. This book showcases how contemporary conceptualizations from cultural-historical activity theory can inform research and practice that fosters positive change. At the core of this book's novel approach to agency and transformation are three motifs: motives, mediation, and motion. These motifs draw inspiration from the original work of Vygotsky and subsequent generations of scholarship, enabling us to understand agency in ways that recognize the social and cultural aspects of agency while maintaining individuals' contributions to changing their own lives and the lives of others. The chapters address power, freedom, and the future in various contexts, including adolescence, school exclusion, children's activism, Indigenous communities, environmental activism, homelessness, childbirth, and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ISBN-13: 9781009153676