Social representations theory: a guide to its use in politics analysis

[The Johnny]

What is a social representation?

"[...] every social representation is the representation of something and someone. It is not the duplicate of what is real, nor the duplicate of the ideal, nor the subjective or objective part of the object." (Jodelet)

"[...] a functional vision of the world that permits the individual or group to assign meaning to its own conducts, and to understand reality through its own system of reference, and in this manner, adapt and define itself a place in the world. [...] it works as a system of interpretation of reality that rules the relations of individuals with its physical and social environment, because it will determine its behaviuor or practices. Its a guide for action, it orients actions and social relationships. Its a system of pre-codification of reality, given that it determines a set of anticipations and expectations." (Moscovici)

"Ideology" is similar in the sense that theres elements (ideas or representations) that guide decisions and behaviours of individuals and groups, as well as being systems of interpretation of reality.

   

[The Johnny]

What are the functions of social representations?

-"Knowing": "[...] facilitates understanding and the explaining of reality [...] adquiring knowledge and their integration to an assimilable reference scheme that is understandable for them, in coherence with its cognitive functioning and the values they adhere to [...] facilitates social communication [...] defines the common frame of reference that allows social exchange, the transmission and diffusion of knowledge [...]"

-"Identity": "[...] defines group identity and allows the safekeeping of its specificity [...] it situates individuals and groups in the social field [...] allows the elaboration of social identity that is personally gratifying[...]"

-"Orientation": "[...] conducts behaviour and practices"

-"Justify": "[...] allows for a priori justification of positions and behaviour"

[The Johnny]

The use of social representations in political analysis.

People have representations (ideology, beliefs) that tend to not be -as in almost never- rational, based on facts, nor against their own interests.

This representations arent useless, nor exist in an apolitical bubble, its the foundation and basis that guides practices (behaviour).

Practices in a social context are political, it affects others directly or indirectly:

-A person with a social representation of blacks as criminals will probably vote "guilty" in a jury.
-A nation with a representation that "terrorists are after them" will allow a police state.
-Rich people can have representations that justify their privilege (the poor are lazy, i am hardworking)

[Juana]

Interesting stuff! I hadn't had words for these concepts before.

[The Johnny]

This was the implicit thought process i was using in the analysis of my "low achievement students" research, and i myself was just introduced to it a week ago.

This stuff to me is like gold and diamonds, its like a more elaborate theory of ideology and/or subjectivity.

[The Johnny]

A practical example

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/864445.html

USA brings to Mexican border Afghani scheme/model

With the objective to locate immigrants and drug traffickers, the USA intends to deploy in the Mexican border the model used in Afghanistan to detect rebels with dirigibles. In the next weeks the American administration will determine the acquisition of dozens of dirigibles with the objective of surveilling the southern border.

The main representation would be "we need to protect our borders from foreigners".

In terms of functions:

-there is a clear distinction between "us" (Americans) vs. "them" ( Mexican aliens and traffickers) that promotes group cohesion

-it fits nicely into other representations as well, such as "we are important", "immigrants want to steal our jobs".

-it justifies militarizing to a certain extent the border.

But how does this compare to the practices? The objective of the practices are obviously the military industry wanting more money to be spent in expensive and useless trinkets.

This representations are just a rationalization or a cover up, because drug traffickers infiltrating the border is related to corruption of agents, not lack of monitoring; there isnt even that much of an immigration problem anymore, because there arent that many jobs in the USA anymore.

Good luck explaining that to almost anyone because all these representations are entrenched in the minds of Americans, that want to believe.

[The Johnny]

A practical example #2

I wont go into detail about it, because i already made a thread about it, but:

The social representation of teachers regarding "low achievement" students as "lazy" or "non-intellectual" has a number of effects on practices:

-Justifies their ideological impositions. "They dont know any better! We need to show them FOR THEIR OWN GOOD".

-Makes them feel at ease, because "Hey, its not our fault!" (scapegoat, anybody?)

-Allows them "not to bite the hand that feeds" (as in, not critizicing the malfunction of the educational system that can get them fired)

And the social representations of the educational system of regarding students in the same way:

-Justifies not adressing the real problems in education, because that would actually take money and digging out corruption.

-It would mean breaking free from the impositions of the World Bank, and oh, what a shitstorm THAT would be.

So rather, lets all have a happy happy merry go around, pretending that the students and their families are the problem.