Sociocultural Subjectivities: Progress, Prospects, Problems

Strongly constitutive sociocultural perspectives in psychology have become more developed and influential in recent decades, particularly during the past 15 years. These approaches include constructionist, discursive, relational, dialogical, and neo-Vygotskian theories. They diverge from one another in some respects, but are alike in that they all consider psychological processes, such as mind and self, to emerge out of social, cultural, and historical contexts. This paper explores some central themes and commitments that inhere in these approaches, particularly with regard to how subjectivity is historically and relationally constituted. It emphasizes the importance of further legitimizing them within psychology and adjacent disciplines. It also points out some current limitations, suggesting that they risk what social theorist Dennis Wrong called an “oversocialized” conception of human beings.