Exploring the lived experience of Nostalgia as a resource for sociocultural development: A Vygotskian perspective.

Gilbert, Oliver (2019) Exploring the lived experience of Nostalgia as a resource for sociocultural development: A Vygotskian perspective. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Previous quantitative literature highlights a variety of definitions, triggers and functional outcomes of nostalgia but demonstrates noticeable divergence in their attempts to quantify the phenomenon. This research sought to address these issues using a Vygotskian framework that defines nostalgia in terms of an internalised social behaviour that serves as a platform for human development. An IPA methodology was utilised to explore the lived experience of nostalgia in six diverse participants. Three themes were identified: the variation in temporal accessibility of nostalgia within and beyond the lives of individuals; the reciprocal dialogue between personal and cultural accounts of nostalgia and the contextual fluidity of nostalgic experience. These findings illuminated the ways in which previously divisive understandings of nostalgia are better approached holistically and that the recursive, bilateral ontology of the phenomenon indicates that it may be inappropriate to pursue a universally defined comprehension of nostalgia. Epistemological and theoretical implications are discussed.