Human Development in the Life Course Melodies of Living [Hardcover]

This book shows how individuals develop a unique style or 'melody' of living, beyond physical and social constraints.This book proposes an integrative sociocultural perspective on psychological development. It examines human change in different social spheres throughout the life course and highlights the role imagination plays in unique individual trajectories and in the reinvention of societies.This book proposes an integrative sociocultural perspective on psychological development. It examines human change in different social spheres throughout the life course and highlights the role imagination plays in unique individual trajectories and in the reinvention of societies.Drawing on philosophy, the history of psychology and the natural sciences, this book proposes a new theoretical foundation for the psychology of the life course. It features the study of unique individual life courses in their social and cultural environment, combining the perspectives of developmental and sociocultural psychology, psychotherapy, learning sciences and geronto-psychology. In particular, the book highlights semiotic processes, specific to human development, that allow us to draw upon past experiences, to choose among alternatives and to plan our futures. Imagination is an important outcome of semiotic processes and enables us to deal with daily constraints and transitions, and promotes the transformation of social representation and symbolic systems  giving each person a unique style, or 'melody', of living. The book concludes by questioning the methodology and epistemology of current life course studies.Preface: from dispute to collaboration; Introduction: melodies of living; Part I. Time for Development: 1. Solidity of science and fullness of living: a theoretical expos?; 2. Imagination and the life course; 3. Moving through time: imagination and memory as semiotic processes; 4. Models of time for the life course; Part II. Spaces for Development: 5. Social framing of lives: from plÃL