Community and

Social Representations
Sandra Jovchelovitch
PS410
2013
 Plan of the Lecture
1. Social representations, community and
public spheres:
the genesis of cognition and
the variability of cognitive systems.

2. Collective and social representations

3. Traditional and de-traditionalised public
spheres.
 Human Symbolic Landscape

Multiple: art, dreams, belief, ideology,

religion, science, and intense cultural
variation.

Different symbolic systems involve

different ways of representing ourselves,
others and the world.
 What is in representation?
Self/Other/World
Interaction and Communication
Context: place and time

All these make representation, constitute its

architecture and how it structures systems of
knowledge
 What is Representation?
an action of mind in society;
a construct that develops ontogenetically
and sociogenetically

Representation means to take the place of

something or someone; to represent is to
literally make something present through
the use of a symbol that conveys meaning
 Origins of Representation I
Mind in Society
Representation is not fully given at birth; it
evolves developmentally in gaze, imitation,
pointing, play, language

Ex: supine position, face-to-face communication

(fundamental to the early development of human social and
nonsocial cognition, including knowledge of self)
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro (ed.), Social Animal Cognition: Special
issue of Interaction Studies 10:2 (2009). 2009. 170 pp. (pp.
252269)
 Lev Vygotsky
The path from object to child and from child to
object passes through another person. This
complex human structure is the product of a
developmental process deeply rooted in the links
between individual and social history. (Vygotsky
& Luria, 1994).
Toy/Tool

Care-taker/
Child/Self Other
The Origins of Representation II
What is crucial? Two things:
1. Cultures await infants with already there
social representations (see Duveen on
gender, 1997)
2. The architecture of intersubjectivy shapes
the architecture of representation and
therefore a system of knowledge
(remember what is the architecture of
representation?)
A reminder: The Architecture of
Representation
Object
Communication and
Action

Representation

Subject
Subject

Context1 Time 1
Examples of Specific Architectures (Logical
Operations and Social Life, Piaget, 1967)
Constraint versus Co-operation

Non- Reciprocity
reciprocity
Hierarchy Democracy

Imitation Creativity
(Tradition) (Innovation)

Under which conditions a system of knowing is produced

and sustained?
Lets see other architectures

...
Thus.

There is variation in representations! Back to slide

1.

Different symbolic systems involve different

architectures, different ways of representing
ourselves, others and the world.

there are different modalities of representation,

different ways of knowing the world, which we want
to study. For example, how do children in different
cultures represent their social world?
Germany, rural 1st grade
Mexico, rural, 1st grade
 From collective to social
representations
New architectures of community and
representation
The change in words is intended to express a
real change in the nature of society and in the
process of production of knowledge:

The transition from a tradition-dominated society to

conditions of late modernity calls for a new focus;
A focus on creative process, on the generation of new,
representations arising during process of social
interaction and communication between different (very
different!) people.
Collective and Social Representations in the
Health Beliefs of the Chinese Community in
England

A Chinese granny and a

BBC in Chinatown
exposed to:
1. different architectures
of community
2. producers and
holders of different
representations

Gervais, M-C. and Jovchelovitch, S. (1998) The health beliefs of the

Chinese community in England: a qualitative research study. Health
Education Authority, London, England. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2672/
Chinese knowledge Western knowledge

Generational Impersonal
transmission transmission
Belief Doubt
Identity Proof
Food, kinship, Science
culture
 Community Forms
There are different forms of public life in the
contemporary world.
These are shaped by culture, history, patterns of
communication and social exchange.

A useful typology to understand representations:

Traditional public spheres
De-traditionalised public spheres
They can predominate more or less in a society;
most of the time they co-exist.
 Traditional and De-
traditionalised public spheres
Traditional public spheres:
the authority of a few people defines the
legitimacy of worldviews
access to knowledge is controlled by the
authority of few
secrecy and hierarchy in knowledge
strong differences in status govern the display of
worldviews and access to knowledge
 De-traditionalised public
spheres
All members discuss and decide in
conditions of equality
Access is open to all and visibility is
expected
Argumentation and debate established the
authority of a proposition
Reciprocity in knowledge
From Durkheim to Moscovici in Society
and Representation
Traditional Modern
Static; agrarian Fast moving; industrial
Low literacy High Literacy
Tradition Innovation
Ruled by elites Wide participation
Religious Secular
Low specialization High specialization
Collective representations Social Representations
Homogeneity of belief Diversity of opinion
Consensual/highly shared Dissent/Highly contested
Shared social identity Multiple Identities
Resists proof and experience Works with doubt
Relies on the social bond and its value Relies on argument
Social integration/solidarity Social differentiation/ risk of
fragmentation and anomie
IMPORTANT!!!! These are IDEAL TYPES, nothing
is as clear cut in the real world.

This is a conceptual model to help you read the real

world, critically asses it and identify the best way to
work with it and on it.

The next two slides are for further study and critical
evaluation.
The inter-penetration of modalities of representation (Jovchelovitch,
2007)

Rep Rep
field 1 field 2

Mode
C

Collective Social
Representations representations
(Ideal Type) (Ideal Type)

Mode
S
 Modalities of Representation (jovchelovitch, 2007)

Collective Social
Traditional Public Sphere De-traditionalised Public Sphere
Unawareness of alternatives Awareness of alternatives
Tendency to closure Tendency to opening
Recognition of authority: centratio of legimitation Diffusion of authority: decentration of legitimation
Subjective-Inter-Subjective-Objective Subjective- Inter-subjective-Objective
Low differenciation and wholeness High differentiation and individuation
Self-Other Relations Self-Other Relations
Asymmetry in dialogue Symmetry in dialogue (actively constructed)
Non-reciprocal Reciprocity and recognition of other
Hierarchical Non-hierarchical
Social Constraint Cooperation
Psychological Holding Psychological Handling
Symbiosis; ontological security and Ego relatedness; introduction of absence and
origins of trust frustration
Attention centred on the subjective Attention turns to objective
Homogeneity in knowledge Heterogeneity in knowledge
Heteronomy Autonomy
Conformity Innovation
Closure Openness