social representation theory Flashcards
we make things familiar and predictable as….
we like to be In control
define social representations?
social representation theory is a social psychological framework of concepts and ideas enabling us to study psychosocial phenomena in societal context.
Can only be properly understood if they are seen as being embedded in historical, cultural and macro social conditions.
Social because they pertain to the social world
They are shared
Produced between people
Cannot be reduced to the individual
They can be ideological
what is an object?
The object becomes a social reality by the representation of the object by the community
The object is perceived in context because what it represents is regarded by the person, or their group, as an extension of their behaviour.
social representations mediate
our relation to an object – they enable us to act ‘towards’ the object.
social representations also mediate
our relation to each other in regard to the object – they enable us to talk about the object.
social representation is a system of shared values, beliefs and practices
a means of orientating ourselves within and towards our material world and allowing us to ‘master it’
Enabling communication
Providing ‘codes’ for social communication, a taxonomy of the social world.
social representations are recreated
daily in our communities by our everyday talk and actions
It is useful to imagine the representations existing across our social minds and not within them
So a social representation is the result of the shared understandings of a social group, expressed in overt behaviours, and defining what is constituted as an object.
premise of psychology
lay people react to phenomenon like scientists do
understanding consists in information processing
BUT….
> our reality is based upon social representations
> we perceive representations as we percieve objects and objects include social representations
> we objectify everything.
social representations are the link
between images and meanings
Reality can be both reified (science) and consensual (shared meaning)
Representations help make the unfamiliar familiar
we anchor the unfamiliar in the current conventions of reality
Objects are threatening until named
how are representations created?
By firstly rupturing the unfamilar
by making the unfamilar familiar
Anchoring – understanding the unfamiliar by making it familiar
Objectification – finding the iconic quality of an unfamiliar idea
anchoring =
Anchoring takes something unfamilar and finds a parallel paradigm for comparison
we compare unfamilar things to a prototype , we look for representiveness
we name the unfamilar thing which locates it in our taxonomy, it identifies the object.
Then we give it certain characteristics and tendencies
Classifying and naming anchors representations.
objectification =
Turning an abstract concept into something concrete
People give meaning to objects and attribute key features to them objects, bringing the object into their social world.
IN SRT objects are SOCIALLY CONSTITUED ENTITIES
For an object to figure in a groups world, ie- to be an object for a group, it must be socially represented.
As a consequence, social representation theory is a socially constructivist theory
social constructionism =
Social constructionism, or the social construction of reality, is a theory of knowledge that examines the development of jointly constructed understandings of the world.
negative social representations
Negative social representations are claimed to ‘spoil’ identities
Leading some young males to ‘hate themselves’
Young, black male brixonites carry a double dose of stigma
‘discredited’ as black and linked to representations of aggression, masculinity and animality they can struggle to maintain a positive sense of self.
self-esteem maintenance strategies?
link to social identity theory and self categorisation theory:
Social mobility – when the stigmatised are motivated to distance themselves from a group, physically or by disassociation
Social competition – highlighting other areas as comparatively worse
Social re-evaluation – linked to social representations, by taking on the social representations, others have of their group – they can use these to redefine and re-evaluate Brixton. For some, this allows positive social identities to develop resisting and rejecting the social representations.
MOST ADOLESCENTS EITHER REJECT OR AFFIRM THE STIGMATISING REPRESENTATIONS HELD BY OTHERS.
