Intersubjectivity, language, and culture: Bridging the person/environment gap?

Abstract

This article proposes that the intersubjective sharing of external experiences is not only a basis for the acquisition of language, but is also the means by which a child learns how to participate in the creation and modification of cultural information within the individual's immediate environment. The inability to participate in human interactions involving cultural information is seen as an aspect of severe mental illness and a case is used to illustrate this inability. It is proposed that because the external world, as both context and culture, is invariably a part of inter‐subjectively shared experiences, it may be possible for clinical social workers to use contact with the environment in a more consciously planned manner when working with a wide range of clients, but particularly those with severe or chronic mental illnesses.

Notes

Carolyn Saari, Ph.D., BCD is Professor at the School of Social Work, Loyola University, Chicago, IL, and is editor of Clinical Social Work Journal. Her most recent book is The Creation of Meaning in Clinical Social Work.