Concept Formation in the Wild

Yrjö Engeström is Professor Emeritus of Education at University of Helsinki and Professor Emeritus of Communication at University of California, San Diego. He is Director of the Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE) in Helsinki, and visiting profesor at Rhodes University, South Africa, and University West, Sweden. Engeström applies and develops cultural-historical activity theory and the theory of expansive learning in studies of transformations in education, work, and communities. He is known for the methodology of formative interventions and the Change Laboratory. His recent books include Learning by Expanding (2nd Edition, 2015), Studies in Expansive Learning (2016), and Expertise in Transition (2018), all published by Cambridge University Press. Engeström received an honorary doctorate from University of Oslo in 2005 and from University of Ioannina, Greece in 2018. In 2021 he received a lifetime achievement award of the Cultural-Historical Research SIG of the American Educational Research Association.

• Preface; 1. Introduction: locating concept formation in the wild; 2. Theorizing concept formation in the wild: first lesson; 3. Theorizing concept formation in the wild: cultural-historical activity theory; 4. Functional concepts in organized productive activities; 5. Embodied germ cell at work: building an expansive concept of physical mobility in home care; 6. Double stimulation and concept formation in everyday work: critical encounters between home care workers and their elderley clients; 7. Collective concept formation as creation at work; 8. Concept formation over the long haul: from housing first to housing first 2.0; 9. The consequences of concept formation in the wild.

'Drawing upon decades of experience and examples from his own practice, Yrjö Engeström provides a comprehensive guide which explains the principles that underpin his work. In an age of detachment and disruption, this work not only provides a powerful framework for scholars to engage but also one which focuses on providing conceptual tools which empower and support the development of agency.' David Allen, University of Leeds