Culture in Conversation: A Commentary on Pontecorvo and Fasulo’s ‘Planning a Typical Italian Meal’

Abstract

This commentary identifies respects in which the theories of culture adopted in the culture and self and sociocultural traditions of cultural psychology are each constrained, in part, by their psychologically grounded research agendas. While tapping non-rational and thematic aspects of culture, research on culture and the self provides only limited insight into its dynamic and heterogeneous nature and into processes of enculturation. In turn, while capturing the fluid and complex nature of cultural systems, sociocultural work neglects its non-rational and thematic aspects. In both traditions, relatively little attention is given to power. The discourse analysis of family interaction undertaken by Pontecorvo and Fasulo (1999) is shown to overcome many of these limitations. Treating culture as an integrated, complex system which is integral to human interaction, their approach captures processes of cultural creation and change as well as power relations. In conclusion, it is argued that there is a need for greater cross-fertilization of ideas across the diverse traditions of research in culture and psychology, while respecting their distinctive insights and agendas.