Représentations sociales et communication (Social Representations and Communication)

Abstract

The paper concerns the role of the social representations approach by Serge Moscovici for the sociology of communication, both for the analysis of social interaction and of media treatement of information. In the study of communication one must deal with the relationship between the individual and society. The sociologist Yves Winkin suggests the idea of an "invisible college" where different authors converge with the intention of overcoming the "postal" or telegraphic model of communication based on the idea of isolated individuals.They turn instead towards a constructivist and interactionist approach. In this paper, following Alfred Schutz’s ideas, I propose to extend this "college" to include the study of social representations to help understand the construction of common sense. I then suggest that the analysis of communication can be regarded as the study of the multiple arenas where social groups compete to achieve more opportunities or more power to influence the "right definition" of sense that is socially approved.

Note: Downloadable document is in French.

Keywords: Social representations, communication