From mediated actions to heterogenous coalitions: four generations of activity-theoretical studies of work and learning

Figures & data

Figure 1. Mediated work action as a first-generation unit of analysis in the cleaning study (Engeström & Engeström, 1984, p. 17)

Figure 2. The activity system of Vantaa District Court and its contradictions in 1990 as a second-generation unit of analysis in the court study (Engeström et al., 1992, p. 154)

Figure 3. The cycle of expansive learning (Engeström & Sannino, 2010, p. 8)

Figure 4. Expansive spearheads in the zone of proximal development of court work (Haavisto, 2002, p. 298)

Figure 5. A constellation of activity systems and their contradictions as a third-generation unit of analysis in the Children’s Hospital study (Engeström, 2001, p. 145)

Figure 6. Coalescing cycles of expansive learning as a fourth-generation unit of analysis in the homelessness study

Figure 7. The process of emergence of transformative agency by double stimulation (Sannino, in press)

Table 1. Overview of the four generations

	First generation	Second generation	Third generation	Fourth generation
Object and problem	Challenge in individual learning or development	Collective developmental contradictions demanding on espansive solution	Developmental contradictions within and between interconnected activity systems	A critical societal challenge or crisis demanding a multi-level and cross-sectoral solution
Unit of analysis	Mediated action	Collective activity system	Minimally two interacting activity systems with a partially shared object	Coalescing cycles of expansive learning in a heterogenous coalition of activities facing a critical societal challenge
Concept of learning	Internalization of given skills and knowledge	Expansive learning cycle generating what is not yet there	Expansive learning cycle involving boundary crossing and horizontal sideways learning	Horizontal and vertical interplay between multiple coalescing cycles of expansive learning
Concept of agency	Agency as grasping the historically evolving nature and emancipatory possibilities of one’s actions	Agency as expansive movement from individual subjects and their tasks toward collective subjects transforming their activityn	Agency as recognition and negotiation of differences andcomplementarities	Transformative agency by double stimulation
Typicalintervention	Training aimed at emancipatory understanding and mastery of one’s actions	Longitudinal process of collective analysis and redesign of the activity → emergence of the Change Laboratory method	Change Laboratory and Boundary Crossing Laboratory	Multiple interconnected Change Laboratories, from local to municipal, regional, national and international levels – with longitudinal follow-up

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