Abstract

Starting from a complementary weakness of conceptualization in sociology and developmental psychology, this paper relates the theories of social reproduction of Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein with the Vygotskian cultural-historical psychological perspective, suggesting a socially disenchanted perspective of psychological development. The contribution of those sociological theories concerning power and conflict is emphasized; as much as its notion of internalization is traced to the work of Durkheim and discussed. Then we emphasize the special features of the idea of internalization in Vygotsky, as an alternative notion in which the categories of mediation and transformation play a central role. Social implications are addressed through the phenomena of stigmatization and labeling, in line with the aspiration of transdisciplinarity.