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Cited by 5,148Innovative Education and Learning PracticesMathematics Education and PedagogySocial Representations and Identity

The DOI matches its Crossref record.

Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics and Culture in Everyday Life

Lave, Jean·1988·Cambridge University Press eBooks
DOI 10.1017/cbo9780511609268
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Abstract

Most previous research on human cognition has focused on problem-solving, and has confined its investigations to the laboratory. As a result, it has been difficult to account for complex mental processes and their place in culture and history. In this startling - indeed, disco in forting - study, Jean Lave moves the analysis of one particular form of cognitive activity, - arithmetic problem-solving - out of the laboratory into the domain of everyday life. In so doing, she shows how mathematics in the 'real world', like all thinking, is shaped by the dynamic encounter between the culturally endowed mind and its total context, a subtle interaction that shapes 1) Both tile human subject and the world within which it acts. The study is focused on mundane daily, activities, such as grocery shopping for 'best buys' in the supermarket, dieting, and so on. Innovative in its method, fascinating in its findings, the research is above all significant in its theoretical contributions. Have offers a cogent critique of conventional cognitive theory, turning for an alternative to recent social theory, and weaving a compelling synthesis from elements of culture theory, theories of practice, and Marxist discourse. The result is a new way of understanding human thought processes, a vision of cognition as the dialectic between persons-acting, and the settings in which their activity is constituted. The book will appeal to anthropologists, for its novel theory of the relation of cognition to culture and context; to cognitive scientists and educational theorists; and to the 'plain folks' who form its subject, and who will recognize themselves in it, a rare accomplishment in the modern social sciences.

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  • Embodied cognition emphasized the role of the body in shaping the mind, and situated cognition posits that cognitive processes are deeply embedded in activity, tools, and social interactions.

    “Embodied cognition (Clark, 1997) emphasized the role of the body in shaping the mind.”

    From Toward Enactive Artificial Intelligence (2026) · cites this paper as Lave, 1988

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Metadata

Authors
Lave, J.
Affiliations
University of California, Irvine (US)
Corresponding author
Lave, Jean
Venue
Cambridge University Press eBooks
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
1988-07-29
DOI
10.1017/cbo9780511609268
OpenAlex
W3021970622
Cited by
5,148
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 56 · 2025: 99 · 2024: 84 · 2023: 92 · 2022: 123 · 2021: 140 · 2020: 122 · 2019: 197 · 2018: 155 · 2017: 151 · 2016: 157 · 2015: 146 · 2014: 190 · 2013: 196 · 2012: 214
FWCI
21.49
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 7796 d)
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Innovative Education and Learning Practices
  • Social Sciences › Education › Mathematics Education and Pedagogy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
Keywords
situated cognition, arithmetic problem solving, mathematics in everyday life, culture and cognition, practice theory, social theory, Marxist discourse, cultural theory, activity theory, grocery shopping, dieting

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