Crises in the course of lives, Crises in society: A sociocultural approach

Lives are constantly changing, and so are societies. Yet some changes seem more disruptive and these are especially strong than others, and we tend to call them "crises" - and these are especially strong when they imply a mismatch between changing lives and their evolving contexts. How to understand these phenomena? Sociocultural psychology of the lifecourse offers us a theoretical frame to study the mutual making of people's course of life, and their changing social and cultural environment. It has especially examined the role of ruptures and transitions in the course of life, and their role in human development; it has also provided conceptual means to examine the link between social and historical changes, and courses of life. At a theoretical level, it has brought to the fore semiotic, dialogical dynamics by which history and courses of life are related; at a methodological level, it has promoted case studies, whether individual or regional, to make these dynamics visible. In this lecture, I will thus examine a series of recent studies showSociocultural psychology, lifecourse, semiotic, dialogicaling the relation between crises in life, and crises in the context.