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nemo_nostrum
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Revisionist Revolution in Vygotsky Studies as deathblow to "Vygotsky bubble"? Пузырь Выготского-2016

The story of the "Vygotsky boom", aka "Vygotsky cult', dates back to late 1970s and has its logic of development. Jerome Bruner on a number of occasions in 1960s-1970s prophesied the "boom" to come, but all in vain. The turning point is 1978 and the publication of the fake, the quasi-Vygotsky's "Mind in Society" by Michael Cole and his collaborators, who appear to have expected the blow to their reputations not to mention fiscal losses the book would cause. The reasons why Vygotsky got so popular in the West thereafter are not of entirely clear nature, but a combination of factors could have been in play. They include the disappointment with Piaget (whose ideas were perceived as too "natalist" and "biological deterministic") and the need in another authority who could serve in support of educational optimism of the environmentalist, interventionist, and teacher-centered approach to learning and instruction. This one was termed "social constructivism". The publication of Toulmin's "The Mozart of psychology" essay might have played its role, too, but given that the main message of the paper -- the idea of the inseparable unity of the Vygotsky-Luria project of the "historical materialist" psychology -- apparently remained virtually totally unnoticed, the impact of this particular publication seems to have been minimal and chiefly propagandist. Since then, the star of Vygotsky -- exemplified by Michael Cole's "Mind in Society" has always been rising. In fact, it was rising until quite recently.

Indeed, if only Google Scholar is a trustworthy instrument in such matters, we clearly see that the number of references to the notorious "Mind in Society" has been continuously rising from 1979 until 2013. Yet, 2014 appears to be the break point: this was the first year when the number of quotes to this source slightly declined. Curiously, the number of quotes to another "Vygotskian star" -- cumulative quotes to the publications actually authored by Michael Cole -- also started its decline. This might suggest that what we experiencing now is the transition from the "Vygotsky boom" to the phase of the "Vygotsky bubble" that has already started shrinking and continues do so right at this very point.

Curiously, the disappointment with the "Vygotsky cult" has been explicitly expressed a lot of times from early 1980s up to now, and the phrase seems to have been first pronounced as early as 1991 (the credits go to Sheldon White). Yet, it took another "revolution" to be first openly stated in a publication of 2012 along with a series of critical studies of 2010s for the dramatic change to really take place. These studies were summarized in a most recent book project: Yasnitsky, A. & van der Veer, R. (Eds.) (2015/2016). Revisionist Revolution in Vygotsky Studies. London and New York: Routledge, -- followed by another one: Yasnitsky, A., van der Veer, R., Aguilar, E. & García, L.N. (Eds.) (in press, 2016). Vygotski revisitado: una historia crítica de su contexto y legado. Buenos Aires: Miño y Dávila Editores (in Spanish). It is not clear yet what other factors were in play, but the impact of the consolidated "Revisionist revolution" in the start of the collapse of the "Vygotsky bubble" seems to be very probable.

Yet, chances are that the trend might still reverse, which makes the whole game of guessing the future even more exciting and breath-taking. So, the bets are still accepted, and the question is: Will this year of 2015 continue the declining trend in the number of quotes to "Mind in Society" (whoever actually wrote it) and, by extension, the references to the cumulative published output by Michael Cole, in which his :) "Mind in Society" consistently comprises more than a half, if Google Scholar is to be trusted.

For the sake of curiosity, Google Scholar quote numbers will be monitored, recorded here, and updated on a regular basis. Only the decade of 2010s will be indicated in the table, below. Yet, the sources for the measurements are all online.
"Mind in Society": https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=djqLs50AAAAJ&citation_for_view=djqLs50AAAAJ:umqufdRvDiIC
Michael Cole: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=djqLs50AAAAJ&hl=en

So, this is what we have as of today, [update:]November 3, 10, 20, 30, December 10, 20, 31, 2015; January 10, 20, 31; February 10, 20, 29, March 10, 20, 31, April, 10, 20, 30, May, 10, 20, 31, June 10, 20, 30, July 10, 20, 31, August 10, 20, 31, September 10, 20, 30, October 10, 20, 31, November 10, 20, 30 December 10, 20, 31, 2016:

"Mind in Society":
Date/Year2010201120122013201420152016
31.12.20164424480152275542558556814582
20.12.20164423479952185534557656694450
10.12.20164416478951895525556956554288
30.11.20164416478851785522556656484171
20.11.20164414478851755517556056324004
10.11.20164416478851755516555656173917
31.10.20164412478351695503554756063774
20.10.20164409478151645499554055943655
10.10.20164404478151615493553655833571
30.09.20164403477851635490553055663449
20.09.20164401477551465486552655503313
10.09.20164395477551455480551855333183
31.08.20164393477251435480551655223073
20.08.20164391476951385475551155112913
10.08.20164389476851335466550455012808
31.07.20164381476151235457548254792679
20.07.20164377475451195454547954662553
10.07.20164374474651195453547854512401
30.06.20164368474051045447546854242248
20.06.20164363473751025443546754162127
10.06.20164327464550195360534253971758
31.05.20164299461949665306525152881595
20.05.20164291461649495295523752261392
10.05.20164292461249475295523251971262
30.04.20164292460749435285522451631131
20.04.20164287460249365278520651161012
10.04.2016428646064937528452065085911
31.03.2016427245904914526751785015824
20.03.2016428346034927527351954987715
10.03.2016428245994925526951904953636
29.02.2016427345894911525451724916549
20.02.2016426545844899524351654874484
10.02.2016425145654879522751254807405
31.01.2016421545244826524651814467246
20.01.2016421345244822523951824372188
10.01.2016421245254813524251794372128
31.12.2015420745204807522851704294--
20.12.2015420445144804521951494137--
10.12.2015420245124802521551433956--
30.11.2015419645084805521051253883--
20.11.2015419445034800520551123732--
10.11.2015418945064795520151063627--
03.11.2015418745034799520050933580--


Michael Cole (including "Mind in Society" references, for comparison see the table above):
Date/Year2010201120122013201420152016
31.12.2016763484069224992410095106239057
20.12.2016762383989206991010073105998806
10.12.2016760783839155989010041105398424
30.11.2016759883699119987410016105038137
20.11.2016759983809130988310015104897849
10.11.2016760383819131987510004104647675
31.10.201676008368911798579997104497398
20.10.201675928365910898549981104177117
10.10.201675858360910998479973103886924
30.09.201675828356910498369955103576658
20.09.201675798354907798129945103246387
10.09.201675738359906998019929102946118
31.08.201675668354906798009925102765916
20.08.201675628343905697939907102455591
10.08.201675638337904997789896102275377
31.07.201675418313903097459853101885132
20.07.201675368302902397399848101594881
10.07.201675278289901997339843101194619
30.06.201675178274899397239816100724328
20.06.201675068266899197109809100364112
10.06.20167367805388109558954199673323
31.05.20167303798387099450938097623021
20.05.20167142774483989068894491022526
10.05.20167118772283789052891890372297
30.04.20167117771583759037889989632077
20.04.20167114771383679023887489171893
10.04.20167114771083729028886988531700
31.03.20167097769083469010883587631549
20.03.20167105770383589010884987161329
10.03.20167103769483509003884286631196
29.02.20167090767383118984881285931031
20.02.2016707676668285896387998528902
10.02.2016705976408258893787538423759
31.01.2016690374468027880887907684474
20.01.2016689874458021880187927580367
10.01.2016689774438009880287917566243
31.12.2015688674367998878187827430--
20.12.2015688574287990876787437174--
10.12.2015688074177986875387286900--
30.11.2015687074107987874387036737--
20.11.2015688774017972874086806507--
10.11.2015685974037963873286756324--
03.11.2015685373987965872686566194--


So, the question is: is there a new trend -- or not?
We will see that pretty soon :).

[Update of November 20, 2015] Besides, it is truly exciting to observe the amazing dynamics of GoogleScholar citing rate changes. Yet another piece of data to consider from the perspective of the question as to what extent GoogleScholar is useful and usable as a research tool in the studies of the kind...[/Update]

[Update of January 11, 2017] The update of the tables has been discontinued as of now and here. For the continued data update and statistics for the 2017 see a newer post at http://psyanimajournal.livejournal.com/15748.html
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