Vygotsky and Vasilyuk on Perezhivanie: Two Notions and One Word

In this article I discuss the difference between Vygotsky’s and Vasilyuk’s uses of the term perezhivanie. Arguably, this difference may have contributed to some of the current ambiguity regarding the notion of perezhivanie in cultural psychology. In short, I propose that Vasilyuk’s perezhivanie can be understood as a special type of activity, whereas Vygotsky’s perezhivanie can be better understood as a special type of meaning. I also propose that Vasilyuk’s perezhivanie consists primarily of the semiotic transformation of Vygotsky’s perezhivanie. After offering conceptual clarifications and examples based on Vygotsky’s and Vasilyuk’s writings, I illustrate these two notions of perezhivanie with a case of a teacher faced with pupils’ disruptions in class. In this illustrative case, my analysis of the semiotic transformation of Vygotsky’s perezhivanie during Vasilyuk’s perezhivanie is based on the semiotic theory of Greimas.