Contexts, expressions, and representational dynamics: An itinerary through the evolution of social representation research

Abstract

This paper offers a chronological perspective on the evolution of social representation research: a first wave of descriptive studies is followed by a second wave of studies devoted to models of the organization of representations, then emphasis is put upon the factors and processes at work in their genesis and transformations (social practices, persuasion and influence, commitment and implication, identity, etc.) Representative studies form those different waves are analyzed in a way which stresses the role they give to the contexts (global, social historical contexts, or current, proximal ones) within which representation operate. Recent research developments within this field have emphasized the study of circulating representation, their expression and their functions in the course of intergroup confrontations. Those researches have demonstrated great variability in the expressed representation, as a function of the instantiated context; they have also underlined the permanent negotiation actors engage in order to define social reality. Giving priority to the study of this variability in the expression of representations requires giving special attention to the identity of the actors, to the context of their exchanges, and to the resistance opposed to the seeds of transformation. It is suggested to distinguish the study of representational dynamics (devoted to the investigation of exchanges related to the object of the representation) form the study of the changes brought to organizing principles – and to seek for a clearer view on how time (if not history) embeds social representation research. 

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v18i1.418