Subjectivity: Theory, Epistemology and Method

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical, methodological and epistemological aspects of the Theory of Subjectivity created by Fernando González Rey (1949-2019). After the publication of the book Epistemología Cualitativa y Subjetividad [Qualitative Epistemology and Subjectivity] by Fernando González Rey in 1997, which marked the beginning of efforts to incorporate the topic of subjectivity from a cultural-historical perspective, research grounded in this approach has multiplied. This book aims to highlight the development of the Theory of Subjectivity since its initial formulation and to further deepen and clarify the relationship between the Theory of Subjectivity, Qualitative Epistemology, and the Constructive-Interpretive Methodology.
This volume also intends to delve deeper, in a didactic way, into the process of constructing information from the perspective of the Theory of Subjectivity. To this end, it discusses the results of studies based on this framework with the aim of delving into this complex process of theoretical construction in research, overcoming the idea of 'empirical research' so widespread in the empirical-instrumental paradigm.
Rejecting the logic of data collection as the accumulation of fragments, the authors emphasize the research as a theoretical construction, in which dialogue constitutes a subjective and relational space. In this space, participants and researchers become agents whose singular productions make possible the emergence of information relevant to the purpose of the research. The theoretical model emerges as the living core of research, constantly constituted by new indicators, hypotheses, and constructions that integrate empirical expressions with conceptual elaboration.
This is an English edition of a book originally published in Portuguese. The translation of the original manuscript into English was done with the help of artificial intelligence. The technical and stylistic revision was carried out by the specialists Daniel Magalhães Goulart, José Fernando Patiño Torres, and Bruno Reis Bernardo Cobucci.

Fernando González Rey (1949-2019) was a Full Professor of the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences of the Centro Universitário de Brasília (Brazil) and Senior Research Professor of the Faculty of Education of the Universidade de Brasília (Brazil). He was also Visiting Professor in several universities worldwide, such as Universidad del Rosario (Argentina), Monash University (Australia), Universidad Autónoma de Mexico (México), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Universidad de Rio Piedras (Puerto Rico), Universidad del Valle (Colombia), École de Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales de Paris (France). He obtained his Ph.D. qualification at the Institute of General and Pedagogic Psychology of Moscow. He also obtained the title of Doctor in Science from the Institute of Psychology of the Sciences Academy of Moscow. He was awarded the Inter-American Psychology Prize in 1991. He received the Orden Carlos J. Finlay, the main recognition for Science in Cuba, in 1991. Also, he was awarded the ISCAR Medal in 2021. His intellectual legacy offers a new, complex and influential understanding of subjectivity from a cultural-historical perspective. His research interests focused on subjectivity, education, health, and psychology from a cultural-historical approach.
Albertina Mitjáns Martínez is a Research Professor of the Faculty of Education at the Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil. She obtained her Ph.D. qualification in psychological sciences at the Universidad de La Habana, Cuba, and concluded post-doctoral studies at the Faculty of Psychology of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. Her research interests focus on education and psychology from a cultural-historical approach in three specific fields: (1) creativity and innovation in education; (2) subjectivity in human development and learning; (3) disabilities and school inclusion. Her latest books are: Theory of Subjectivity from a Cultural-Historical Standpoint: González Rey’s legacy (Ed., Springer, 2021); Subjectivity Within Cultural-Historical Approach: Theory, Methodology and Research (Ed., Springer, 2019); Subjetividade: Teoria, Epistemologia e Método [Subjectivity: theory, epistemology and method] (Alínea, 2019) and Psicologia, Educação e Aprendizagem Escolar [Psychology, education and school learning] (Cortez, 2019).