Vygotsky’s Legacy Questioned: A Review of his “Analysts” and a Challenge to his “Emulators”

Abstract

This article first proposes a literature review on the questioning of Lev Vygotsky (1896Vygotsky ( -1934's legacy. Four main points of disagreement are distinguished:(1) the authenticity issues of Vygotsky's published work; (2) the unreflective use of concepts and ideas attributed to the Russian psychologist; (3) the story telling of a mythical Vygotsky-Leontiev-Luria school; and (4) the assimilation of his works with major currents of North American developmental psychology. The underlying divergence on what constitutes Vygotsky's core theory is then highlighted, namely the role of meaning in mental development. Finally, a study of the dissemination of his conceptions within the scientific community is proposed, based on the reconstitution of two networks of authors: Vygotsky's "analysts" and "emulators". This study demonstrates that the revision of Vygotsky's legacy may be understood by the very play of scientific production processes. Major Vygotskian scholars have emulated his ideas within mainstream but possibly incompatible intellectual frameworks.