Social Representations Theory and young Africans' creative narratives about human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, 1997–2014

Research on social representations (SRs) has often focused more on categorical than narrative‐based representations. However, narratives are considered to play a key role in the organization of SRs. This article describes an empirical study of some 2000 creative narratives about human immunodeficiency virus written by young Africans from five countries between 1997 and 2014 and examines the theoretical, methodological and applied relevance of Social Representations Theory (SRT) for this study and the implications of the study for the intersection between narrative and SRT. The study is unusual within the SR paradigm: it is temporal and cross‐national; addresses a subject whose science has evolved over time; and uses creative narratives as its data source. A narrative perspective foregrounds holistic understandings of SRs as systems of thought. Creative narratives fit well within an SR framework. Our triangulating methodologies foreground categorical or narrative dimensions depending on the objectives of specific sub‐studies. Central Core Theory provides a framework to articulate stability and change within narrative representations. In creative narrative, objectification also happens at the level of plot and characters, such that dominant cultural narratives can be viewed as a form of hegemonic SR. We link with health communication and embrace more critical streams within SR research.     

Social Representations Theory: A Progressive Research Programme for Social Psychology

The study “Psychoanalysis—its image and its public” intimates that common sense is increasingly informed by science. But common sense asserts its autonomy and, in turn, may affect the trajectory of science. This is a process that leads to many differentiations—in common sense, in scientific innovation and in political and regulatory structures. Bauer and Gaskell's toblerone model of triangles of mediation provided a distillation of their reading of “La Psychanalyse.” Here it was argued that representations are multi‐modal phenomena necessitating the use of multiple methodologies (comparative and longitudinal; qualitative and quantitative). In this paper we briefly summarise these arguments and elaborate ways in which social representation theory can be considered a progressive research programme. “Progressive” because as the theory has developed it has extended the range and depth of its conceptual basis; it provides a new synthesis for the social scientific understanding of the phenomena of common sense and of representation; it acts as an antidote to the reductionism of public opinion and, finally, it is a stimulus to depart from disciplinary silos. However, there remain unresolved issues: how to segment the relevant social milieus and how to close the feedback loop from common sense to science?     

Social work and social problems: A contribution from systems theory and constructionism

Social work builds its identity on social problems. The goal is to generate knowledge about causes, consequences and solutions. However, there is a lack of theory of social problems. We suggest that research on social problems can benefit by ‘bringing the observer in’: Loseke's constructionist framework and Luhmann's systems theory. According to Loseke, social problems appear differently when constructed by different observers. Constructions vary in terms of morality, conditions, victims/villains and solutions. From Luhmann we learn that modern society consists of a multitude of social systems (e.g. politics, science, economy etc.), each operating with their own communicative codes. Combining both approaches, we hypothesise that any social system constructs its own (version of) social problems. Illustrating with the empirical case ‘suicide among mentally ill people’, we examine how a phenomenon is constructed differently as a social problem by four different social systems: the disability movement, politics, medicine and social work.     

Embodiment and the Construction of Social Knowledge: Towards an Integration of Embodiment and Social Representations Theory

Recent developments in the psychological and social sciences have seen a surge of attention to concepts of embodiment. The burgeoning field of embodied cognition, as well as the long‐standing tradition of phenomenological philosophy, offer valuable insights for theorising how people come to understand the world around them. However, the implications of human embodiment have been largely neglected by one of the key frameworks for conceptualising the development of social knowledge: Social Representations Theory. This article seeks to spark a dialogue between Social Representations Theory and embodiment research. It outlines the position the body occupies in the existing theoretical and empirical social representations literature, and argues that incorporating concepts gleaned from embodiment research may facilitate a more comprehensive account of the aetiology of social representations. The value of analytic attention to embodiment is illustrated with reference to a recent study of social representations of neuroscience, which suggested that embodied experience can shape the extent to which people engage with certain topics, the conditions under which they do so, and the conceptual and affective content of the ensuing representations. The article argues that expanding Social Representations Theory's methodological and conceptual toolkit, in order to illuminate the interplay between embodied experience and social communication in the development of common‐sense knowledge, promises productive directions for empirical and theoretical advancement.     

国内“社会技术”研究综述

纵观国内的社会技术和社会技术哲学研究历程,显示出如下阶段特征。第一阶段,提出和界定"社会技术"概念,阐述研究社会技术的意义;第二阶段,论证社会技术的存在,对社会技术进行分类;第三阶段,分析社会技术的本质,提出"社会技术哲学"研究纲领;第四阶段,对社会技术的理论与应用问题进行拓展探究,引介国外社会技术哲学研究状况。国内的社会技术哲学还处于学科创立的初级阶段,在研究上取得了一定的成果,但所依靠的学科根基还比较薄弱,还没有形成独立的研究范式。在社会技术的构成要素、社会技术的发明应用模式、社会技术哲学的研究范式等方面还有待于深入探讨。     

Social Representations: The Beautiful Invention

Psychoanalysis: Its Image and Its Public is a perfect illustration of Tarde's claim that ‘beautiful’ should be reserved for ideas that lead to a discovery of more ideas and to an invention that we can judge as fruitful for the future. The article examines the influence of the book in geographical, historical and scientific contexts and traces the development and diffusion of the theory of social representations throughout four periods. The article highlights the difference between the first edition in 1961, and the second one in 1976, and it examines the development of Moscovici's ideas over time. The first edition of Psychoanalysis, based on the criticism of sociology of knowledge, underlines common sense as a new object of study, attempting to capture complex social phenomena. It shows common sense as a legitimate object of study that interweaves social, cultural and individual dimensions in the constitution of social reality. The 1976 edition emphasises that language and communication and its role in the theory of social knowledge. The book has had manifold impact on new areas of study. An overview of international research in social representations shows how this work has inspired scholars all over the world, has lead to creating Schools of research and to innovative proposals not only in terms of domains that have been studied but also in terms of theoretical models and methodological concerns.     

浅谈青年社会工作者心理压力

本文从社会工作的工作情境、工作对象、工作方式、工作过程、工作考核、工作风险、工作伦理、工作晋升等方面梳理了当前社会组织中青年社会工作者的压力来源,并从专业团队建设、社会服务推广、交流平台建立、专门人才培养等方面提出建议。     

The implications of dialogicality for ‘giving voice’ in social representations research

Social representations research is often undertaken by scholars who seek to ‘give voice’ to knowledge(s) that are held by socially disenfranchised individuals and groups. However, this endeavour poses a number of problems in practice, not least because it assumes that the ‘voices’ voiced by individuals and/or groups in social research will be unambiguous and uniform, and unchanged by the research encounter. Despite the growth of attention to the critical potential of social representations theory, there remains a lack of scholarship on the relationship between the theory's emphasis on the relational, or dialogical, nature of social life (the Ego‐Alter‐Object relation) and the implications of this for critical research. In this article, I argue that the dialogical epistemology from which social representations research must depart incites reflection upon (i) the design of empirical studies, which must equally attend to both ‘Ego’ and ‘Alter’, and (ii) the researcher‐researched relationship, which may itself be best viewed as an Ego‐Alter interaction. I make the case for adopting dialogical epistemology in critical social psychology, and argue that this is essential to undertaking ethical social research. I conclude by suggesting that claims to ‘giving voice’ have little place in critical social psychology in general, and social representations scholarship in particular.     

从结论看方法：社会学研究的现实性维度思考——关于美国社会学者对中国社会分层研究的讨论*

本文以社会分层研究为例,指出面向现实是社会学研究科学性的根本保证,研究结论就是对现实的反映,而这种反映的真实程度又是由研究方法所决定的,方法的选择和实施则是由研究范式所指导的。范式、方法和结论最终统一在研究的现实性维度之上。     

记忆研究的“社会-文化”范式:对“哈布瓦赫-阿斯曼”研究传统的解读

通过分析“哈布瓦赫-阿斯曼”研究路径中有关社会、文化等概念,可以得出一个较为清晰的记忆研究的“社会-文化”范式,从而弥补当下记忆研究无范式的缺陷。这一范式尤其体现在与神圣记忆密切相关的“社会框架论”、社会品质,以及卡农、神话、节日等概念中。从社会学角度看,能够促发人们回忆的社会力来自涂尔干所谓的“神圣社会”。哈布瓦赫记忆理论中的“社会框架论”和“社会品质”概念是涂尔干的“社会本体论”思想的核心表现,由此形成一种哈布瓦赫的“神圣记忆观”。扬·阿斯曼文化记忆理论中的重要概念“卡农”,也是一种神圣记忆。卡农等概念是扬·阿斯曼对哈布瓦赫的“社会框架论”的继承和推进。上述要素构成记忆研究的“社会-文化”范式的基础。从“取向”讨论转向“范式”分析,有助于推进社会记忆研究传统的生成和发展。     

Constructivism in Social Work: Towards a Participative Practice Viability

Summary Social work has traditionally drawn upon an expansive rangeof social science research and theorizing as its claim upona ‘knowledge base’. Recent debates have exploredthe need for the profession to develop its own theory of socialwork knowledge arising from practice. This paper seeks to extendthe boundaries of these ideas through an operational and epistemologicalelaboration and critique of Sheppard's (1995a; 1998) notionof a practice paradigm. In an examination of the contributionof constructivism and the seminal work of George Kelly's (1955)Psychology of Personal Constructs, arguments are put forwardfor social work practice to focus upon the co-construction ofviable working relationships with service users as the basisfor an anti-oppressive and participative professionalism. Itargues that the sterile philosophical dichotomies between objectivism/realism-subjectivism/interpretivismand the equally unhelpful social work division between practice-theoryshould be integrated within a situated, participatory, constructivistapproach to knowledge creation in social work practice and continuingprofessional development.     

Empathy and professional attitude in social workers and non-trained aides

The purpose of this study was to investigate empathic communication and professional attitude in vocational groups representing different levels of professional training. A further aim was to elucidate some aspects of the impact of the clients. Four groups of professionals participated, three with degrees as social workers and one with only short professional training. Three groups worked with committed drug addicts, one group with somatically ill patients. The 110 subjects were tested with a video-test of professional attitude and empathic communication. Different response patterns were found in the different groups. The group with short training had the highest proportion of unprofessional responses. The group of social workers working with somatically ill patients showed the highest amount of empathic communication. Furthermore, there was a distinction among the kind of unprofessional responses used by the different groups. Hypotheses on the causes of these differences and implications for future research are discussed.     

Making meaningful connections: using insights from social pedagogy in statutory child and family social work practice

Reports into incidents of child death and serious injury have highlighted consistently concern about the capacity of social workers to communicate skilfully with children. Drawing on data collected as part of an Economic and Social Research Council funded UK‐wide research project exploring social workers' communicative practices with children, this paper explores how approaches informed by social pedagogy can assist social workers in connecting and communicating with with children. The qualitative research included data generated from 82 observations of social workers' everyday encounters with children. Social pedagogical concepts of ‘haltung’ (attitude), ‘head, heart and hands’ and ‘the common third’ are outlined as potentially helpful approaches for facilitating the intimacies of inter‐personal connections and enhancing social workers' capacity to establish and sustain meaningful communication and relationships with children in the face of austere social, political and organisational contexts.     

Conversations about violence,risk and responsibility with divorced and support-seeking fathers in Sweden

The aim of this paper is to analyse approaches to issues of risk, responsibility and representations of violence in women social workers' conversations with alleged or confirmed violent fathers. The study adds to a growing body of research on agencies' handling of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of separation. Empirically, the study draws from 12 structured, audio recorded and transcribed interviews with support-seeking and divorced fathers, from five municipalities in Sweden, conducted as part of a cooperation project in which a risk-detection method (Family Law Detection Of Overall Risk Screen [FL-DOORS]) was also tested. The results suggest a tension between different professional tasks. To validate information on IPV, detect risk and enhance a child perspective competes with other professional projects, most obviously with promoting cooperation between parents. The study confirms previous research, which demonstrates unique challenges facing women social workers and counsellors when working with men as perpetrators. In conclusion, the paper concurs with the call for a focus on responsibility and on safe parenting in professional conversations with allegedly or confirmed abusive fathers.     

The Epistemological Significance of the Theory of Social Representations

The theory of social representations must be understood in terms of its proper epistemology so that it can accomplish its full potential in social sciences. This is often difficult to achieve because researchers comprehend it in terms of concepts that are part of static and individualistic Newtonian epistemology rather than in terms of dynamic and relational Einsteinian epistemology. This article considers three signposts that Moscovici identifies and analyses in the theory of relativity, namely the relation between epistemology and science, theory and method, and the argument against the explanation of effects by their causes. The following question is posed: are these signposts also characteristic of the theory of social representations? This question is examined focusing on interactional epistemology, theory and method and the diversity of natural thinking and communication. Moscovici's Psychoanalysis shows that natural thinking appears in a plurality of modes according to the situation in which it takes place and according to social groups towards which it is directed. Natural thinking is controversial and communication‐centred. Different professionals, groups and lay people use different kinds of speaking and different communicative genres when they try to resolve “the same” problem. The article suggests that bringing together dialogicality, dialogical linguistics and the theory of social representations may open up new possibilities for theoretical developments in social psychology.     

Social Representations,Alternative Representations and Semantic Barriers

Social representations research has tended to focus upon the representations that groups have in relation to some object. The present article elaborates the concept of social representations by pointing to the existence of “alternative representations” as sub‐components within social representations. Alternative representations are the ideas and images the group has about how other groups represent the given object. Alternative representations are thus representations of other people's representations. The present article uses data from Moscovici's (1976/2008 ) analysis of the diffusion of psychoanalysis to examine how people engage with alternative representations. It is demonstrated that there can be more or less dialogical relations with alternative representations. The analysis concludes by considering seven “semiotic barriers” which work to neutralise the dialogical potential of alternative representations, thus on the one hand enabling groups to talk about the views of others, while, on the other hand, remaining unchallenged by those views.     

我国公共项目建设模式创新—第三方监管模式探究

公共项目主要是为了满足社会公共需要,由政府进行固定资产投资的项目。但是,目前我国公共项目现有模式存在缺失,主要表现为机构重复设置、管理水平低、政府监控不力、项目实施效率较差等。这些问题根源于政府权力的高度集中,对项目过多的干预。公共项目建设需要转变政府职能,我们提出TPS建设模式,通过第三方的介入,发挥企业组织管理的优势,从而提高我国公共项目建设水平。     

The construction of social reality as a process of representational naturalization. The case of the social representation of drugs

This theoretical paper explores the role of social representations in the construction of social reality. Even though this question has been the subject of many debates, the actual processes and mechanisms through which social representations contribute to the construction of social reality have rarely been explored. Citing key works on the topic, the paper explores the role of the genesis of social representations in this process. Each stage of the objectification of social representations (selective construction, structuring schematization, and naturalization) is examined in detail. A more in‐depth analysis of the naturalization process is provided by dividing it into four phases: (1) recognition; (2) elimination of contradictions; (3) instrumental use; and (4) validation through experience. These phases are illustrated using the example of the construction of the social object of drugs in our contemporary society. The present examination of the naturalization process in relation to drugs reveals the mechanisms through which the reality of drugs as a social problem has been constructed and reproduced in our society.     

感知与洞察：研究实践中的现象学社会学

本文认为,现象学社会学对定性研究实践的最重要的意义在于,由现象学的内涵所规定而强调的一种积极的认知态度。而这种积极的认知态度一旦被贯彻,就会给我们的研究乃至学生培养和训练带来一种革命性的改变。这样一种认知在研究实践中经由感知与洞察得以完成,从而获得对现象的意义的相对深刻与准确的理解和解释,由此也给出了现象学社会学将“日常生活”作为其主要研究领域的原因：日常生活即是“生活世界”的中心,而由社会行动者（包括他们形成的主体间际）及其生活于其中的环境所组成的生活世界在某种程度上可以称之为一个意义的世界。     

Depth Accessibility Difficulties: An Alternative Conceptualisation of Autism Spectrum Conditions

John Lawson, Depth Accessibility Difficulties: An Alternative Conceptualisation of Autism Spectrum Conditions, pp. 189–202.
Autism and Asperger syndrome are psychiatric conditions diagnosed primarily on the basis of deficits and problems in social behaviour; interaction and communication. At present the explanation of these behavioural features is dominated by three cognitive models. However, it is a characteristic of each of these models that they only explain a sub-set of the overall features.
The aim of this paper is to suggest an alternative conceptual theory of autism and Asperger syndrome that unites the current three models. Thus, the aim is to situate the existing models as special cases of the one being proposed here. This alternative conceptualisation draws heavily on distinctions and ideas present in the philosophy of science, most especially in the area of critical realism. Central to the theory is the idea that the core "problem" in autism and Asperger syndrome concerns ontological depth. More specifically, that people with these conditions find it difficult to cope with phenomena characterised by depth (underlying needs, motives beliefs etc.), open systems (rapidly changing, multiple causes) and high internal relationality (converging or changing roles and demands).