Lev Vygotsky - Critics

Critics

In the Soviet Union, Vygotsky and his cultural-historical psychology were much criticized during his lifetime and after his death. By the beginning of the 1930s, Vygotsky's opponents criticized him for a number of issues, including "idealist aberrations." Following criticism, a major group of Vygotsky's students, including Luria and Leontiev, fled from Moscow to Ukraine to establish the Kharkov school of psychology. In the second half of the 1930s, Vygotsky would be criticized for his interest in the cross-disciplinary study of the child known as paedology, as well as for ignoring the role of practice and practical object-bound activity. Considerable critique came from the alleged Vygotsky's followers, such as Leontiev and members of his research group. Critics also pointed to his emphasis on the role of language and, on the other hand, emotional factors in human development. Much of this early criticism was later discarded by these Vygotskian scholars themselves. Major figures in Soviet psychology such as Sergei Rubinstein criticized Vygotsky's notion of mediation and its development in the works of students.