Social Representations & Knowledge - Softcover

Duveen, Gerard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521021030 ISBN 13: 9780521021036

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

This book raises for the first time developmental issues in relation to the theory of social representations, which Duveen and Lloyd introduced to account for the influence of social life on psychological processes. He describes a society's values, ideas, beliefs and practices as social representations which function both as rule systems structuring social life and as codes facilitating communication. The editors' introduction identifies the need to expand the theory of social representations to consider developmental changes in social beliefs, in individual understanding, and in the process of communication. Individual chapters examine aspects of such processes in the domains of nursery-school life, of gender, of social divisions in society, of images of childhood, of emotion, of intelligence and of psychology. In the final chapter Moscovici considers the contribution which these developmental perspectives make to the theory. The book will interest specialists and students in the human and social sciences, including developmental and social psychology, sociology, and communication studies.

About this title

Review

"...a useful introduction to social representations theory as well as to its abuses, possible limitations, and promise." Contemporary Sociology

"...deserves serious reading by all psychologists interested in culture and cognition, in social cognition, or in the blending of developmental with social psychology." Jacqueline J. Goodnow, Contemporary Psychology

"...I found this book most rewarding. I would now hope for more. This major beginning, however, is marked by a range and a degree of novelty that are unusual, and the book deserves serious reading by all psychologists interested in the course of development and in its social bases." Jacqueline J. Goodnow, Human Development

Book Description

This book examines developmental issues in relation to the theory of social representations that Moscovici introduced to account for the influence of social life on psychological processes. Chapters examine aspects of such processes in the domains of nursery-school life, gender, social division in society, images of childhood, emotion, intelligence and psychology.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521021030
• ISBN 13: 9780521021036
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208