In Cultural Psychology (Harvard University Press, £19.95, ISBN 0 674
17951 X), Michael Cole argues that, just as fish do not see water because they
swim in it, so humans do not see culture because we swim in it. The first part
of the book is a fascinating tour of the early days of psychology. He argues
that when psychology tried to become a science, it stopped thinking about the
culture in which individuals operate. As a result, he says, it has become
hopelessly flawed.
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