Question

Compare and contrast the cultural theory of development to social role theory. This needs to be in essay form.

Answer 1

Answer.) Social roles theory of development

This is actually the principle that men and women behave differently in social situations and take different roles, due to the expectations that society puts upon them (including gender stereotyping). This includes women taking positions of lower power, meeting ‘glass ceilings ', having home-making roles, etc.

Three common patterns can be-

(a) Women undertake more domestic tasks

(b) Women and men frequently have different occupational roles.

(c) In occupations, women frequently have less status.

Cultural theory

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a cultural process and the origination of human intelligence in society or culture. The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky believed everything is learned on two levels.

First, through interaction with others, and then integrated into the individual's mental structure.

Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the in-patient level; first, between people ) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the larger functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.

A second aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the proven fact that the possibility of cognitive development is limited to a "zone of proximal development" (ZPD)This "zone" is the location of exploration for that your student is cognitively prepared, but requires help and social interaction to completely develop (Briner, 1999). A teacher or more knowledgeable peer is able to provide the learner with "scaffolding" to guide the student's evolving knowledge of knowledge domains or development of complex skills. Collaborative learning, discourse, modelling, and scaffolding are strategies for supporting the intellectual knowledge of learners and facilitating intentional learning.