The idea of contradictions as a source of change and development is central to the dialectical tradition in philosophy (e.g., Wilde, 1989). The idea also plays a constitutive role in Yrjö Engeström's theory of expansive learning and the methodology of developmental work research (DWR). The triangle of an activity system would be a truncated model without its connection to historical change, which is analyzed in terms of the contradictions of activities in capitalism. Recently Engeström (2008a) pointed out, “If activity theory is stripped of its historical analysis of contradictions of capitalism, the theory becomes either another management toolkit or another psychological approach without potential for radical transformations” (p. 258). With his comments on a critique of the ways of using the model of an activity system (Engeström, 2006d), he reminds us of the key contribution of Il'enkov to activity theory, namely the idea of “objective dialectical contradictions as the motor of self-development in real systems” (p. 3).

The concept of contradiction was developed in Learning by Expanding (1987, chap. 2) in two ways. First, the inner contradictions of school activity, of work activity, as well as of science and art in capitalism are delineated. Second, the concept is elaborated and made operative for empirical research through its relation to the model of an activity system, to the cycle of expansive learning, and to the methodological cycle of DWR. As a result, four types of contradictions are defined.