Symbolic resources and imagination in the dynamics of life

This chapter presents two mutually dependent conceptual developments in sociocultural psychology: the concept of “symbolic resources” and a theory of imagination. It argues that, although both have been considered as side problems, these might actually enable to highlight fundamental dynamics in the study of human development in the lifecourse, as well as cultural change. The chapter is organized five sections. The first section sketches a sociocultural psychology of lifecourse and highlights some of its challenges. The second section presents a sociocultural psychological theory, while the third retraces the concept of symbolic resources. These two sections each present a short historical summary and a theoretical model. The fourth section puts these two concepts at work, and shows how they may participate to the definition of the lifecourse and societal change, but also, how these can be constrained. The fifth section opens on further theoretical and methodological challenges.