Serge Moscovici Research Articles

The study of representations in sociology: between multidisciplinarity, lines of continuity and differences

The present article aims at analysing the role that sociology has played in the process of formation of the theory of social representations. In an effort to highlight the multidisciplinary nature of the theory, but also to recognize an independent point of view on the subject, the article proceeds to a comparison between sociology and other disciplines, especially with the prolific theoretical approach of Serge Moscovici and his school.

Muslim ‘hate preachers’ in British tabloids: Constructing the British self and the Muslim other

In the aftermath of 9/11, the academia witnessed a surge in the number of studies dealing with Islamophobia, the representations of Muslims in Western media and complex realities created by such (mis)representations. This article hopes to contribute to such scholarly efforts by examining the demonisation of Islam through the fashioning of celebrity Muslim ‘hate preachers’ (i.e. Abu-Hamza, Abu-Qatada and Omar Bakri) in British tabloids (i.e. The Sun and the Daily Mail ). Drawing upon insights from Serge Moscovici’s theory of social representations, the article aims to diverge from the traditional approaches of content and discourse analysis to shed light on the nexus between forms of social thinking and the unique portrayal of these preachers in tabloids.

Campo e grupo: aproximação conceitual entre Pierre Bourdieu e a teoria moscoviciana das representações sociais

O objetivo deste artigo é examinar a visão da realidade (ou do espaço) social no pensamento de Pierre Bourdieu e na teoria das representações sociais (TRS) de Serge Moscovici, tomando por desencadeador uma discussão sobre a noção de campo, proposta por Bourdieu, particularmente quando expõe a sociologia do gosto, e a noção de grupo na TRS. Na sociologia de Bourdieu, o campo é organizado por princípios como capital econômico e capital cultural, supondo lutas no espaço social, conforme posições sociais, habitus e práticas culturais dos agentes. Na teoria das representações sociais (TRS), os grupos, em suas comunicações, voltam-se para o campo de um objeto que os mobiliza, supondo igualdade na relação de seus membros ao construírem um conhecimento do senso comum, consensual, a respeito desse objeto. Em uma sociologia do gosto dos artistas, por exemplo, o sociólogo de inspiração bourdiesiana pode fazer também um quadro das práticas sociais desse grupo, não somente as referentes a um único objeto (arte). Porém, Bourdieu parece não se ater ao estudo de grupos. Paralelamente, pode-se reprovar os estudiosos de representação social por nem sempre darem importância suficiente à base dos objetos materiais. Os dois autores têm em comum o fato de privilegiarem a dimensão simbólica na construção da realidade social. Têm também como desafio comum superar a dicotomia subjetividade x objetividade na relação indivíduo-sociedade. Por meio dessa aproximação conceitual, o texto busca constituir um olhar psicossocial para a educação, particularmente a escola, sem adotar de antemão uma teoria (TRS) em detrimento da outra (Bourdieu), mas problematizando-as reciprocamente.

Relações entre a Atividade Carbonífera e o Rural em Candiota, RS, Brasil: análises sobre representações sociais em um contexto de dilemas sobre a energia

A geração de energia termelétrica à base de carvão mineral tem despertado distintas opiniões e significados. O objetivo deste artigo é investigar as representações sociais que grupos e atores sociais no espaço rural compartilham em torno da temática da exploração do carvão mineral no município de Candiota (RS), sul do Brasil. Foi possível identificar algumas representações que compõem a relação entre o rural e o carvão no município. Do ponto de vista teórico e metodológico, optou-se pela Teoria das Representações Sociais, de Serge Moscovici, e pela abordagem estrutural das representações sociais de Jean-Claude Abric. Foram entrevistadas 46 pessoas entre janeiro e março de 2012. A representação central da atividade carbonífera no caso estudado situa-se em torno da ideia de "crescimento econômico", retratando um discurso embasado no universo reificado de alguns setores socioeconômicos e a pressão à inferência sobre grupos. Os entrevistados, em sua maioria, são favoráveis à atividade (53%), enquanto 28% são contrários e 19% não se consideram nem favoráveis nem contrários, variando seus argumentos conforme a posição social. No caso estudado, o grau de dependência em relação à exploração do carvão é instável e dinâmico.

The magic of social thought.

Studying social thinking provides a promising field of investigation for the constitution of common knowledge in communication and action of historically and culturally situated groups. Its genealogy helps the understanding of the symbolic efficacy of social practices and their own operating collective logic. The English translation of a short version of Serge Moscovici's article on the new magical thinking allows a wider audience to gain access, for the first time, to a text that perfectly illustrates the currentness and relevance of the social psychology of knowledge.

La dialogicidad como supuesto ontológico y epistemológico en Psicología Social: reflexiones a partir de la Teoría de las Representaciones Sociales y la Pedagogía de la Liberación

This article discusses the role of dialogicity in the construction of a critical and emancipatory Social Psychology from an interactionist or genetic perspective of the Social Representations Theory. For this purpose we establish connections between the Social Representations Theory of Serge Moscovici and the Pedagogy of Liberation of Paulo Freire. In general both theories consider dialogicity an existential condition of human beings, i.e., one that permeates the ontological, epistemological and ethical fields of human praxis. Said category does not deny the tension and conflict of human relations; on the contrary, it comprehends that these characteristics are what make it possible to articulate dialogical strategies for social change.

Prevention in mental health: Social representations from French professionals

In France, the last decade has been marked by an extensive development of public interventions in the field of mental health. The political investment in mental health has been the object of a public debate in which prevention was perceived by professional opinion leaders as a mean for politics to implement social control policies. However, it seems that the vigor of these condemnations has jeopardized the opportunity to initiate a debate on the ethical, sociological and epistemological foundations of prevention in mental health. Aim and method: EPIONE study was set up to meet the need for psychosocial research to evaluate the social representations of prevention in mental health professionals in charge of prevention, within the French context. Using one open-ended question (‘What do you think about prevention in mental health?’), representations from 616 professionals were analyzed through a computer-assisted process (Alceste software) and according to Denise Jodelet and Serge Moscovici models of social representations. Results: Results pointed out an important discrepancy between the political discourse and the social representations of professionals, who understand the field of prevention as intimately related to curative practices. Professionals do not seem concerned by preventive ‘top-down’ policies, which they perceive as technocrats’ issues. Finally, only a third of the total responses was related to the criticisms addressed to prevention, suggesting that mistrust toward prevention was not as developed among field professionals as it might seem when reading the most visible critical publications. Conclusion: We suggest that, in order to adapt public health and prevention policies, decision makers will have to rely on professionals’ background and on the field reality, as well as the epistemological, sociological and ethical problems raised by public prevention in mental health.

Prevention in Mental Health: Social Representations from French Professionals

In France, the last decade has been marked by an extensive development of public interventions in the field of mental health. The political investment in mental health has been the object of a public debate in which prevention was perceived by professional opinion leaders as a mean for politics to implement social control policies. However, it seems that the vigor of these condemnations has jeopardized the opportunity to initiate a debate on the ethical, sociological and epistemological foundations of prevention in mental health. Aim and method: EPIONE study was set up to meet the need for psychosocial research to evaluate the social representations of prevention in mental health professionals in charge of prevention, within the French context. Using one open-ended question (‘What do you think about prevention in mental health?’), representations from 616 professionals were analyzed through a computer-assisted process (Alceste software) and according to Denise Jodelet and Serge Moscovici models of social representations. Results: Results pointed out an important discrepancy between the political discourse and the social representations of professionals, who understand the field of prevention as intimately related to curative practices. Professionals do not seem concerned by preventive ‘top-down’ policies, which they perceive as technocrats’ issues. Finally, only a third of the total responses was related to the criticisms addressed to prevention, suggesting that mistrust toward prevention was not as developed among field professionals as it might seem when reading the most visible critical publications. Conclusion: We suggest that, in order to adapt public health and prevention policies, decision makers will have to rely on professionals’ background and on the field reality, as well as the epistemological, sociological and ethical problems raised by public prevention in mental health.

Representaciones sociales y didáctica: construcción teórica de un espacio común

This paper is part of doctoral research that bears the title Research at Faculties of Education in Bogota: Social Representations of Teachers. Its aim is to establish a connection between theories of social representations and didactic based on the concept of dialogue of knowledge. Therefore, discussions are proposed about knowledge as core generator of didactical debate and as common ground between science and common sense, but at the same time as the foundation of the concept of social representations developed by the school of Serge Moscovici.

Social representation of the ageing process and its effects upon professional nurses' practice

This is a Dissertation Research Project from the Science in Healthcare Master’s Program at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Aim: To discuss the social representations of the ageing process among professional nurses aged 60 years and over, and the effects it may have upon their practice. Method: This a qualitative descriptive study based on the theory of Social Representations developed by Serge Moscovici. It will be conducted at Antonio Pedro University Hospital, and the participants will be nursing professionals. The data collected will be analysed using ALCEST software, which will facilitate the analysis of the group’s collective discourse. This project has been approved by that institution’s IRB.

Linguaggio E Processi Comunicativi (Language and Communication)

This working paper results from notes for five lessons in a doctoral seminar on sociology of communication as invited professor in the PhD in Science, Technology and Society of the University of Calabria (Italy). The paper starts with a brief critical summary on the different models of communication (from telegraphic metaphor to an orchestral one, from transmission model to an interactional one, from Shannon and Weaver to the two-step flow of communication, and so on), to show the main questions and perspectives deriving from social sciences. Three authors are considered as crucial for a more complex vision of communication: the contribution of Alfred Schutz (especially in his essay on the well informed citizen and the distribution of social knowledge); the social representations approach suggested by Serge Moscovici, illustrating some examples of its efficacy when applied in empirical research on mass media effects; Irving Goffmann and his studies about the order of interaction. These working notes try to explain students the importance of a phenomenological point of view, underlining the main process in the social building of the common sense. Finally, arising the question on the role of subjectivity, it suggests the contribution that a sociological apperception of the individual (L. Dumont) may give our better understanding of contemporary communicative arenas.

Social representations of needlestick injuries

understand the Social Representations about needlestick injuries elaborated by Nursing Technicians and analyze how these representations influence their conducts. the data, obtained by interviews, were processed using ALCESTE software and their analysis was based on Serge Moscovici's Social Representations Theory. it was evidenced that, after the accident, these professionals take care of the affected area. Then, they report the accident, motivated by the fear of catching HIV and hepatitis. The different feelings experienced are due to this fear and the way they were forwarded by the institution, reflecting in the cause they attribute to their accident. it was verified that knowledge about the accident as a whole is very incipient in this professional group, demanding continuing education and greater emphasis on this subject in professional training. It is expected that this study draws public authorities and health institutions' attention to the problem and that it modifies Nursing Technicians' Social Representations about percutaneous exposure.

Representações Sociais: Uma Instigante Leitura com Moscovici, Jodelet, Marková e Jovchelovitch

This article delves into Serge Moscovici and his masterpiece Social Representations of Psychoanalysis from a balanced perspective. The theory of social representations, seen as an invaluable source, has its roots in the works of Durkheim, Levy-Bruhl, Piaget, Vygotsky and Freud, amongst other authors who belong to the new ´´generation´´ of researchers in the field. Moscovici introduced the concept of social representation in his major study of how psychoanalysis turned out to be a frame of reference in France. The critical reading of Moscovici´s work portrays three perspectives, and adopts a theoretical approach to Irvana Markova (2003, 2006), Denise Jodelet (2005) and Sandra Jovchelovitch (2008), for such authors contributed substantially to develop deep reflections on knowledge itself, on the meaning of knowledge, on what leads knowing to thorough knowledge.

Representações sociais: teoria, procedimentos metodológicos e educação ambiental

The theory of social representations is the production of social knowledge. It focuses on the analysis of the construction and transformation of knowledge and tries to elucidate how social action and thought is tied together in social dynamics. The social representation is always representation of something (object) and one (subject). Studies in Social Representations knowledge are constructed by man's relationship with its environment. The Social Representations of the environment and the current values that include human relations has been the focus of research by government agencies and educators aware of the importance of environmental education in Brazil. The aim of this study was a review of different theoretical approaches and methodological Social Representation prepared by Serge Moscovici. We also focus on the methodological dimensions of social representations with emphasis in Environmental Education

On the Knowledge of Politics and the Politics of Knowledge: How a Social Representations Approach Helps Us Rethink the Subject of Political Psychology

Fifty years ago, Serge Moscovici first outlined a theory of social representations. In this article, we attempt to discuss and to contextualize research that has been inspired by this original impetus from the particular angle of its relevance to political psychology. We argue that four defining components of social representations need to be taken into account, and that these elements need to be articulated with insights from the social identity tradition about the centrality of self and group constructions in order to develop original insights into political psychological phenomena. First, social representations are shared knowledge, and the way interpretations of the world are collectively elaborated is critical to the way people are able to act within the world. Second, social representations are meta‐knowledge, which implies that what people assume relevant others know, think, or value is part of their own interpretative grid, and that collective behavior can often be influenced more powerfully at the level of meta‐representations than of intimate beliefs. Third, social representations are enacted communication, which means that social influence is exerted by the factors that constrain social practices as much as by the discourse that interprets these practices. Fourth, social representations are world‐making assumptions: collective understandings do not only reflect existing realities but often bring social reality into being. Put together, these four components provide a distinctive theoretical perspective on power, resistance and conflict. The added conceptual value of this perspective is illustrated by showing how it allows revisiting ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia. We conclude with implications for research practices and discuss how the proposed model of social representations invites us to define new priorities and challenges for the methods used to study political psychological phenomena.

Did We Miss the Social Commentary? Responding to Borat on Youtube

Ever since the fictitious Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev became an icon of contemporary popular culture, many questions have arisen about the reception of Borat by the general public. Namely, how common people have created a shared representation of Borat and how the complicated character and comedic manner undertaken by Sacha Baron Cohen is being deciphered. To address these questions that, surely, also could be asked concerning other international media products, this article deals with the reception of Borat the character on YouTube. In particular, the viewers’ reaction to the YouTube video titled “The Best of Borat” is analysed. This video has been viewed more than seven million times and commented upon nearly seven thousand times. The conceptual framework of this analysis is derived from the social representations theory postulated by Serge Moscovici. In line with this theory two main operations – anchoring and objectification – are explored in order to understand how a consensual or diverging knowledge of Borat is created. YouTube comments are analysed by using thematic analysis, which is facilitated by the qualitative research software program NVivo 8. The research results suggest that anchoring of Borat is embedded in the national identification discourse, whereas objectification differentiates people according to their sense of humour. Likewise, the article argues that Borat the character might place strong nations able to self-criticise and laugh at themselves in opposition to weak or unrecognised nations totally incapable of participating in mockery.

Cinema e representações sociais: alguns diálogos possíveis

This article intends to relate the concept of Social Representations, taken in several different aspects, to cinema studies, pointing some relevant elements to analyze it. This work has as aim to present briefly the thoughts of Durkheim about the genesis of the term representation and relate it to some contributions offered by Serge Moscovici and Denise Jodelet, both important names for the social psychology. Taking philosophy as matter, we try to introduce Michel Foucault’s reflexions on the crisis of representation, connecting them to the ideas of Gilbert Durand and the symbolic imagination, besides the conception of mimesis as presented by Paul Ricouer.

Teoria das representações sociais e ciências sociais: trânsito e atravessamentos

Este texto pretende assinalar a relação da teoria psicossocial das representações sociais de Serge Moscovici com as ciências sociais, a partir da sua caracterização como uma abordagem de interpenetração da Psicologia com a Sociologia. Primeiramente fará uma breve análise sobre o trânsito entre Psicologia-Psicologia Social e Ciências Sociais, como um dos elementos de explicação para o entrecruzamento da Teoria das Representações Sociais (TRS) com as ciências sociais. Em seguida pontuará como este entrecruzamento se coloca na abordagem moscoviciana, e como a TRS não escapa a ele. O argumento da autora é de que a base da relação entre essas áreas e a TRS está na concepção do social, presente no pensamento moscoviciano, o qual, ao mesmo tempo, não negligencia o quanto os aspectos psicológicos participam dos fatos sociais. O texto se encerra com alguns exemplos de pesquisa para ilustrar esta posição.

Maternal decision on obtaining prenatal care: a study in Brazil

Objective to address the social aspects of pregnancy and the views of pregnant women regarding prenatal assistance in Brazil. Design this qualitative study was focused on describing the Social Representations of prenatal care held by pregnant women. The discourse of the collective subject (DCS) framework was used to analyse the data collected, within the theoretical background of social representations, as proposed and developed by Serge Moscovici. Participants and setting 21 pregnant women who were users of the publicly funded Brazilian unified health-care system and resided in the area served by its family health programme in a low- to middle-income neighbourhood on the outskirts of Campo Grande, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in southwestern Brazil. Data were collected by conducting in-depth, face-to-face interviews from January to October 2006. Findings all participants were married. Formal education of the participants was less than five years in four cases, between five and eight years in six cases, and greater than 11 years in 10 cases. Nine participants had informal jobs and earned up to US$ 200 per month, four paricipants had administrative jobs and earned over US$ 500 per month, and eight participants did not work. No specific racial/ethnic background predominated. Lack of adherence to prenatal care allowed for the identification of two DCS themes: ‘organisation of prenatal care services’ and ‘lifestyle features’. Key conclusions the respondents were found to have negative feelings about pregnancy which manifest as many fears, including the fear of harming their children's health, of being punished during labour, and of being reprimanded by health-care professionals for overlooking their prenatal care, in addition to the insecurity felt towards the infant and self. Implications for practice the findings reveal that communication between pregnant women and health-care professionals has been ineffective and that prenatal care has not been effective for the group interviewed—features that are likely to be found among other low- to middle-income groups living elsewhere in Brazil.

Linking Science to Common Sense

ABSTRACTThe distinction between the reified universe of science and the consensual universe of common sense introduced by Serge Moscovici in the Psychoanalysis and reiterated in further texts always gave rise to debate and puzzled interrogations.In the present text it is argued that for Serge Moscovici there is both a discontinuity and continuity between the two fields of science and common sense although at different levels of analysis.They would be discontinuous at the operative theoretical level corresponding to the logic of verification in the sense of Popper. Truth and truthfulness are not the same. But there would be continuity at the metatheoretical thematic level, where either scientists or lay people seem to follow the same non conscious insightful processes enabling them to look beyond the empirical observables as well as beyond the traditional beliefs and common places.