Social Representations of Foreign Aid: Exploring Meaning-Making in Aid Practice in Sulu, Southern Philippines

Conceptualising foreign aid as a controversial social object, this study utilised Social Representations Theory as a social constructionist framework to understand the meanings that arise from people's social interactions in relation to foreign aid practice in a particular historical, political and social context such as the province of Sulu in Southern Philippines. Key informant interviews and group discussions with representatives of various social groups involved in the practice of foreign aid in Sulu were conducted. Research data were examined using thematic analysis. Results showed two interrelated representational systems about foreign aid in the province. First, foreign aid was understood as a valuable resource for peace and development in Sulu. Second, based on narratives of aid practice in the province, the same social object was also represented as a profiteering enterprise that operates at various levels of the aid structure. Results are discussed in terms of meaning-making in aid practice; the possible psychological, social and political consequences of the social meaning of foreign aid as a profiteering enterprise; and the potential of these social representations for reflection, critique and transformation in the practice of foreign aid.

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Introduction: Why a Social Representations Perspective?

10.1093/oso/9780197617366.003.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 3-23

Author(s):

Alberta Contarello

Keyword(s):

Social Issues ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Social Representations ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Entire Volume ◽

Social Object ◽

The Social ◽

Health Aging ◽

Theoretical Side

This chapter introduces the social representations perspective that forms the background of the entire volume, presenting the social-psychological gaze (regard psychosocial): the acknowledgment that the knowledge of a social object necessarily requires the mediation of an Alter, a “thirdness.” From this premise, specific ways of studying change and continuity in meaning-making derive, putting change at the forefront as well as concerns about the role of the researcher along the path. After considering these features, the chapter briefly presents the various parts that compose the book and the single chapters. From a social representations stance or from cognate perspectives, several keywords and topics are encountered, both on a theoretical side and with empirical examples, addressing social issues in domains such as health, aging, inequalities, environment, and community.

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From Prototypical Stimuli to Iconographic Stimuli: The Power of Images in the Study of Social Representations

RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogics ◽

10.22363/2313-1683-2021-18-2-391-401 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 391-401

Author(s):

Ida Galli ◽

Roberto Fasanelli

Keyword(s):

Everyday Life ◽

Social Representations ◽

Social Representation ◽

The Other ◽

Great Power ◽

Social Object ◽

Starting Point ◽

The Social ◽

Methods And Techniques ◽

Interdisciplinary Effort

When we are interested in the image of a social object, we are interested in what individuals have perceived about that object, the ways in which they have interpreted those perceptions, and what they think about that object. Fully agreeing with the idea that the use of iconographic stimuli can enhance the traditional methods and techniques that are used to study any social representation, in this article, two techniques will be presented. The first, the prototypical stimuli technique, was proposed in the second half of the 1980s by Galli and Nigro. The second technique, iconographic stimuli, creatively integrate images and words in a single tool, was designed more recently to study the social representation of culture by Galli, Fasanelli, and Schember. Researches here reviewed clearly shows that the image has the great power to attract to itself the very objects depicted, a power that the word often does not possess. It is images that make people reflect, help them to think about issues concerning the fundamental aspects of everyday life. The work here presented, carried out in first person by the writer, as well as by all the other authors who are concentrating their efforts in this direction, only represents a starting point of reflection. New and more articulated studies will be able to support with heuristic evidence what so far seems to be configured as a suggestive hypothesis, which in any case will require a wider and shared interdisciplinary effort.

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Faith Effect and Voice on Early Marriage in a Nigerian State

SAGE Open ◽

10.1177/2158244020919513 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 215824402091951

Author(s):

Jimoh Amzat

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Critical Role ◽

Early Marriage ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Faith Leaders ◽

The Social ◽

Key Informant ◽

Second Category ◽

Depth Interviews

The rate of early marriage is 87% in northwest Nigeria, although it is 56% in Kaduna. One major issue is that early marriage is often rationalized as a religious norm. This study explores the role of faith leaders in advancing the cause of adolescent girls regarding the timing of marriage in Kaduna state. This qualitative study took place in three local government areas: Chikun (Mixed Christians and Muslims), Makarfi (majority Muslims), and Zangon-Kataf (majority Christians) were purposively selected to have a variety of mixed religious contexts. Using purposive sampling methods, the researcher conducted 24 focus group discussions with adolescent girls, 24 in-depth interviews with faith leaders, and 12 key informant interviews with other stakeholders. The study used a framework method for analyzing qualitative data. The study found that faith leaders play essential roles in rationalizing or discouraging early marriage through preaching and other activities. The study identifies three categories of faith leaders concerning early marriage. Some are proactive, discoursing about it. The second category is the passive faith leaders, somehow indifferent but has never preached against or in favor of early marriage. The last set consists of faith leaders promoting early marriage—who think early marriage is still beneficial. The study recommends that considering the social position of faith leaders and critical role in sanctioning marital unions, they could be considered as a vital link in efforts to curtail early marriage.

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Shaken and stirred: Social representations, social media, and community empowerment in emergency contexts

Semiotica ◽

10.1515/sem-2016-0208 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 (222) ◽

pp. 321-346 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mauro Sarrica ◽

Manuela Farinosi ◽

Francesca Comunello ◽

Sonia Brondi ◽

Lorenza Parisi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Social Representations ◽

Community Empowerment ◽

The Social ◽

Social Sharing ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

And Control ◽

Social Sharing Of Emotions

AbstractIn this paper we examine the use of Twitter and Facebook in two dramatic earthquakes that hit Italy: L’Aquila (in 2009) and Emilia (in 2012). Indeed, disasters disrupt everyday life and engage people in meaning-making processes aimed at recovering meaning and control of their world. In these cases, we argue that the use of social media may contribute to social representations processes and functions: cognitive coping, social sharing of emotions, preserving self-efficacy, boosting identity, and community empowerment. Different methods were adopted to examine the use of social media in the immediate aftermath, a few days after, and in the medium-long term. Differences between the events, combined with the differences between Twitter and Facebook, entailed a multiplicity of uses. Nevertheless, the analyses point to the same conclusions: by fostering new forms of communication and encounters, social media played an increasingly important role during and after the earthquakes. First, they were used for providing information and material coping, then they favored the social sharing of emotions and joint remembering, and finally they contributed to claiming voice and control. Results thus suggest that the use of social media favored different representational functions, which progressively contributed to community empowerment.

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Lawel e dad tô de lagad: An Ethnography of the Collective Wisdom of the Blaans on Disaster Management and Environmental Conservation

Journal of Health Research and Society ◽

10.34002/jhrs.v1i0.9 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 3

Author(s):

Jovanie Camacho Espesor

Keyword(s):

Disaster Management ◽

Environmental Hazards ◽

Environmental Conservation ◽

Focus Group Discussions ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Natural Landscape ◽

Collective Wisdom ◽

Rich Description ◽

The Social ◽

Key Informant

The Blaan communities in the hinterlands of Sarangani are continually exposed to different forms andtypes of environmental hazards. These hazards are brought about by disasters such as droughts, landslide, soilerosion, flooding and infestation of rats and swarm of locusts on agricultural crops. This paper seeks to providea thick and rich description of the indigenous knowledge of the Blaans on disaster management and environmentalconservation. It discusses and analyzes various environmental hazards identified and experiencedby the Blaans in the mountain ecosystems of Sarangani. Another aim of this study is to analyze thefunction of the social network of the tribe and their coping mechanisms in confronting the effects of naturaldisasters. This study utilizes first-hand information that are gathered through intensive ethnographic field observations in the hinterlands of Sarangani. Participatory Rapid Field Appraisal strategies were used to engage the members of the community as primary participants of the study. Moreover, key informant interviewsamong senior members of Blaan tribes and focus group discussions are used to supplement information generated through participatory research approaches. This study concludes that the Blaans in the mountainous parts of Sarangani have immense collective wisdom on disaster management and environmental conservation,which they have learned from their forefathers. Nonetheless, this vast knowledge system of the Blaans is gradually eroding due to dwindling interest of the younger generations and disappearance of the natural landscape that serves as the social laboratory for the Blaans to learn about the kanfulong de tribu. Read full article here.

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Social Representations of Diagnosis in the Consultation

Sociology ◽

10.1177/0038038517712913 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (6) ◽

pp. 1185-1199 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tom Sanders ◽

Diane Roberts

Keyword(s):

Social Order ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Social Representations ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Negotiated Order ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

Sciatic Pain ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Pain Symptoms

Observations of physiotherapy consultations and qualitative interviews with patients were conducted to explore the clinical explanation for sciatic pain. We report three themes which illustrate the contested and negotiated order of the clinical explanation: anchoring; resistance; and normalisation. We show using the theory of social representations how the social order in the physiotherapy consultation is maintained, contested and rearticulated. We highlight the importance of agency in patients’ ability to resist the clinical explanation and in turn shape the clinical discourse within the consultation. Social representations offer insights into how the world is viewed by different individuals, in our case physiotherapists and patients with sciatic pain symptoms. The negotiation about the diagnosis reveals the malleable and socially constructed nature of pain and the meaning-making process underpinning it. The study has implications for understanding inequalities in the consultation and the key ingredients of consensus.

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The management of social problems talk in a support group

Psicologia & Sociedade ◽

10.1590/s0102-71822013000500012 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (spe) ◽

pp. 101-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrezza Gomes Peretti ◽

Pedro Pablo Sampaio Martins ◽

Carla Guanaes-Lorenzi

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Support Group ◽

Social Transformation ◽

Social Issues ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Disease Process ◽

Social Constructionist ◽

The Social ◽

Transformation Processes

The comprehension of the health-disease process from a multifactorial perspective has allowed important transformations in the healthcare practices. In this article, we discuss the use of the support group as a resource for mental health care, analyzing how conversations about social issues are managed in this context. Based on contributions from the social constructionist movement, we analyzed the transcripts of the conversations developed in meetings of a support group offered to patients of a mental health outpatient clinic. The analysis of the process of meaning making indicates that the discourse of the social influence on mental health is not legitimized, due to a predominant individualistic discourse, which psychologizes care and is centered on the emotional analysis of the problems of the quotidian. We argue that this mode of management brings limits to the construction of the group as a device for promoting autonomy and encouraging the social transformation processes.

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Social Representations and Health Psychology

Social Science Information ◽

10.1177/0539018402041004004 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 559-580 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Hélène Joffe

Keyword(s):

Health Psychology ◽

Social Representations ◽

Empirical Work ◽

Social Constructionist ◽

Health Issues ◽

Human Thought ◽

The Social ◽

Health And Illness ◽

Health Field ◽

Specific Contribution

The author examines the specific contribution that social representations research has made to health psychology. In particular, the approach highlights the symbolic, emotive and social aspects of how lay people make meaning of facets of health and illness, and emphasizes the importance of the evolution of these meanings. Empirical work on health and illness is used to cast light on the specific workings of social representations and on the enrichment of the health field offered by this naturalistic perspective. Distinctions are drawn between the social representations approach and other social constructionist approaches in the health field. In addition, the differentiation between social representations and more mainstream approaches to health issues is examined. Primarily, the social representations approach eschews the notion of human thought as analogous to information processing, with the attendant individualist, cognitivist and rationalist assumptions, and recognizes the importance of non-verbal material in the study of the human psyche.

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Taking subjectivity and reflexivity seriously: Implications of social constructionism for researching volunteer motivation

10.26686/wgtn.12735962 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

E Weenink ◽

Todd Bridgman

Keyword(s):

Social Constructionism ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Third Sector ◽

Social Processes ◽

Social Constructionist ◽

Volunteer Motivation ◽

Johns Hopkins University ◽

The Social ◽

Third Sector Research ◽

Active Membership

© 2016, International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University. This paper explores the contributions a social constructionist paradigm can make for researching volunteer motivation, by reflecting on an active membership study of volunteer netball coaches at a New Zealand high school. Social constructionism is based on philosophical assumptions which differ from those of positivism and post-positivism, the dominant paradigms for understanding and representing volunteer motivation. It highlights the social processes through which people give meaning to their motives and view researchers as necessarily implicated in this meaning-making process. Through a critique of the extant literature on volunteer motivation and an illustration of the insights of social constructionism from our empirical study, we consider how volunteer motivation research could be different if subjectivity and reflexivity were taken more seriously.

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