PLAY, COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENT, AND THE SOCIAL WORLD - PIAGET, VYGOTSKY,AND BEYOND

This article provides a critical overview of research on play and cogn itive development and an analysis of the two major theoretical framewo rks that have informed it. Until recently, the dominant influence in t his area has been that of Piaget, whose approach to play formed an int egral part of his larger theory of cognitive development. Although the Piagetian research program is far from exhausted, the absence of a so ciocultural dimension in his approach created a space for the influenc e of Vygotsky, whose developmental theory has increasingly emerged as the major alternative framework. However, this second stream of resear ch has thus far taken up the Vygotskian 'inspiration' in a limited and inadequate way. In particular, it is too narrowly focused on interact ion and does not address the wider sociocultural elements that define and shape the play context. The article concludes by suggesting the ou tlines of a more powerful research perspective. Among other sources, t his approach builds on some of the unexplored possibilities within the Piagetian and Vygotskian perspectives themselves - in part by reconne cting certain elements in these perspectives with their roots in Durkh eim and Freud - as well as drawing on the approach to cultural interpr etation championed by Geertz.