AS MARCAS DA INFÂNCIA E A CONSTITUIÇÃO DA IDENTIDADE: um estudo à luz da Teoria Histórico-Cultural de Vygotsky

Abstract

This study analyzes how childhood experiences contribute to the constitution of identity based on Lev S. Vygotsky’s Historical-Cultural Theory. It assumes that human development is a historical, social, and mediated process in which the childinternalizes culturally produced signs and meanings. The research, qualitative and theoretical-bibliographic in nature, is grounded in classical works by Vygotsky (2022; 2007), Leontiev (2004), and Luria (1986), as well as contemporary studies by Kramer (2003), Smolka (2000), Rego (2012), Oliveira (2021), Tuleski (2004), Bronfenbrenner (2011), Freire (2019), and Silva and Freitas (2024). The results show that childhood experiences, especially those mediated by language and social interaction, constitute the core of subjectivity and shape how individuals perceive themselves and others. Affective and dialogical environments foster more autonomous identities, whereas contexts marked by symbolic neglect tend to limit the development of self-awareness. It is concluded that childhood remains active within the adult psychological structure, being continuously re-elaborated throughout new social interactions.