On the problem of generalization in cultural psychology: Aesthetics, generalizability, and dialogical research

Abstract

A recent special issue of Culture & Psychology focused on dialogic research and the problem of generalizing research from one context to another. A challenge is that the special issue bypassed a crucial discussion of aesthetics, which is a core feature of dialogical research that is important in the discussion about generalization. Using a dialogical approach influenced by Bakhtin, we discuss aesthetics and how it inspires dialogic research. Two features of dialogical research are discussed herein to show where we align with the authors of the special issue: expressed realities (socio-communally constituted realties lived as if given) and ethics. Expressed realities and ethics are foundational for aesthetics and so we seek to add the discussion of aesthetics to the conversation initiated in the special issue. In our efforts to discuss these ideas, we draw upon illustrative examples from interviews about the role of the church in poverty reduction.