390 research outputs found
Common Sense of Experts. Social Representations of Justice amongst Professionals
No full textThe dialectics between different modes of knowledge is at the very core of social sciences. In particular, the theory of social representations looks at expert and lay modes as they were not peculiar of specific domains but rather as they were mutually interdependent. Based on the conceptual distinction between reified and consensual universes, this article explores the interplay between these two sources of knowledge through the analysis of the social representations of justice produced by justice professionals. In particular, the exploration of the social representations of justice amongst experts offers intriguing clues to overtake the idea that the lay understanding of justice is somehow opposed to the expert viewpoint and to accept the polyphasic understanding of this complex object. The article reports the findings of a qualitative investigation of the social representations of justice amongst professionals. The staff members of the Youth Social Services (YSS) and the Juvenile C
The dialogicality of cleanliness. “Thematizing” the clean/dirty antinomy in the background of the Theory of Social Representations.
No full textSpeltini and Passini manuscript points to a theoretical framework for exploring the psychosocial dimensions of the issue of cleanliness addressing the clean/dirty and pure/impure antinomies. In particular, the Authors discuss the symbolic and normative valence of the issue of cleanliness and demonstrate its social and cultural rootedness feeding negative attitudes and adverse emotions towards persons and groups. Elaborating on the arguments of Speltini and Passini, I endorse the conceptual overlapping between the issue of cleanliness and the dialogical notion of basic themata. In the background of Social Representation Theory, the process of anchoring serves as context for addressing this conceptual overlapping and for challenging the profound interrelationship between the issue of cleanliness and the theme of intergroup dynamics and inter-ethnic encounters
Special Issue of the Papers of Social Representations "SEMIOTICS AND SOCIAL REPRESENTATION: A MUTUAL CULTIVATION"
No full textSocial representations of Justice of professional groups within juvenile system.
No full textTheoretical Framework
Social Representations theory emphasizes the process through which social groups adapt technical knowledge to everyday needs. In justice system, professional groups shape institutional rules in accordance with their ingroup shared system of meanings about what is just and with reference to the symbolic social dynamics actualized in the context of their working social exchanges (Clémence and Doise, 1995; Doise, 2010).
Objectives and Procedures
The research focuses on social representations of justice of two professional groups within juvenile system. The objective is to explore the existence of: a) a shared set of meanings within and between groups; b) potential differences in meanings organization between groups with emphasis on social dynamics in work context. Participants are the entire staff of the Social Service Office of Juvenile Court (USSM) (N.20) and of the Juvenile Community Service (CPA) (N.8) in Lecce, south Italy.
An in-depth semi-structured interview was adopted mainly focusing on narratives (László, 2003). Three areas were addressed: a) justice episodes; b) ideal/real justice; c) justice/law. Interviews transcriptions were submitted to a content qualitative analysis through ATLAS.ti software.
Results and Main Conclusion
The two groups share a common system of meanings about justice shaped by technical law. Notwithstanding, differences emerge. In USSM justice representation, social work is the principle which organizes such a system in the context of an enriching network of social exchanges with other professional groups; on the opposite, the organizing principle of CPA staff representation of justice is the oppositional dichotomy between IN/OUT up to the point that two justices come out: the In-justice which involves young offenders and the Out-justice which concerns all the others. Such an organization is shared by all the CPA group members, despite of their different job positions
Semiotics and social representations: a figure-and-ground relationship of mutual cultivation
No full textDeliberation and protest: a closer look at social fora dynamics.
No full textThe paper focuses on two key domains: the psychosocial dynamics of protest in socialmovements and deliberative democracy theory and practice. Explorative research on an ItalianSocial Forum has been carried out, aimed at: a) verifying the consistency and the correspondence between the construct of deliberative democracy and the interactive functioning of social fora; b) probing the factors underlying the “social psychology of protest” (Klandermans, 1997); c)integrating the two domains at an empirical level. Results lack generalization but provide usefulindications to renew the theoretical assumptions concerning the psychosocial processes involved indeliberative interaction and protest
Semiotics and Social Representation: A Figure-and-Ground Relationship of Mutual Cultivation
No full textThe link between semiotics and social representations theory (Duveen& Lloyd, 1999) provides the seeds for a theoretical framework that could explore social psychological phenomena with particular emphasis on the developmental dynamics of their changes.
The consideration of the dynamic nature of the process of representation draws our attention to the situated nature of human experience in cultural and historical context, at the crossroads of personal and societal influences on human nature. The challenge this poses to social scientists is the development of a conceptual framework that can address both theoretical and empirical concerns that emanate from a focus on dynamicity. We believe that the study of semiotics may provide further methodological tools for understanding and studying social representations in the course of their production and evolution.
This special issue aims at expanding the interconnection between semiotics and social representation theory by looking at three points of mutual cultivation. We propose three contributions in this special issue that articulate the issue of dynamicity as the meeting point between these two approaches. In particular, the reciprocal connection between the process of social representation and the process of personal presentation is examined in a contribution by Jaan Valsiner, with special regard to the empirical study of the development of social representations. In a second contribution, Alberto Rosa examines the methodological implications required in such an undertaking, with a focus on the interplay between the subjective and the intersubjective use of culturally situated sign-systems. Finally, Sergio Salvatore examines the semiotic nature of social representations in light of idiographic methods of researc
Economic factors affecting obesity: an application in Italy
No full textThe World Health Organization has stated that obesity is spreading around the world like a “global epidemic”. In 2004 the percentage of obese people in the Italian population was 9%, but the trend s increasing in recent years. Focusing on this country, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the socio-economic variables affecting obesity by means of a survey conducted in a consumer sample. Our analysis is based on a survey conducted in Italy, and the sample was composed of 999 consumers. We used a binary logit model and the dependent variable is body mass index (BMI), expressed in a dichotomic way (seriously overweight and obese, value 1, and normal weight, value 0). The results show that the condition of the seriously overweight and obese increases with age, especially in people over 65 of age. Also gender is correlated with the pathology: being seriously overweight and obese is far more likely for men than for women. An inverse relation was shown between obesity and education, and between obesity and the level of food knowledge. The results highlight that disadvantaged social categories are more susceptible to the problem of overweight and obesity. A policy implication of the analysis, to limit the spread of obesity, could lie in programs aimed at improving health and food awareness and focused on these minority groups.economics of obesity, BMI and consumer, logit model, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,
NEGATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL SENSE OF COMMUNITY: DEVELOPMENT OF A MEASURE AND THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS
No full textPsychological sense of community (PSOC) has been a focus of extensive research investigation. However, despite the emphasis on the positive aspects of PSOC, scholars have paid relatively little attention on its negative aspects. The present work assumes PSOC to be a bipolar construct (Brodsky, 1996), introduces negative psychological sense of community (NPSOC) as a centrifugal force that drives individuals away from the community, and reports the development of the NPSOC scale. Community residents (N = 612) were sampled and surveyed to examine the statistical validity and the psychometric properties of the NPSOC scale. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) revealed that the second-order factor structure of NPSOC (consisting of four first-order factors) yielded the most satisfactory fit indices, with correlational analyses supporting the construct validity of NPSOC. To lay the foundation for future directions, the concept of NPSOC was further discussed in relation to its implications and to the construct of PSOC
Community resilience and continuous challenges. A qualitative analysis of the functioning of communities in the aftermath of persistent and ordinary stressors
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