People's Trust in Authorities as a Phenomenon of Parasocial Relations in Modern Russian Society

The article features the concept of trust as a phenomenon of parasocial relations. Parasocial relationship is one-sided because its object is sometimes unaware of its subject. The phenomenon of people's trust in social institutions still remains largely understudied. The research was based on the sociocognitive approach developed by R. Falcone and C. Castelfranchi and the theory of social representations by S. Moscovici and D. Jodelet. In Russia, population's trust in authorities has always been low, and the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting it even more. The study revealed two forms of institutional trust, one based on social relations and the other based on parasocial relations. The institutional trust in modern Russia combines social and parasocial forms. They are closely interconnected, and the first can transform into the second. The deficit of social relations between Russian population and authorities in the conditions of declining institutional trust may lead to their replacement by less stable parasocial relations.

The Jihadi Current and the Lay Thinking: A “Re-Anchorage” Process Hypothesis

The Jihadi-salafist doctrine which is at the Islamist terrorism origin that affects several countries since the emergence of Al Qaeda in the late 80's, gave birth to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham/Levant (ISIS/ISIL) established as a Caliphate in 2014. Despite the ISIS official military defeat in 2019, the Jihadi-Salafist current - whose history goes back a long way, is currently behind a number of attacks whether collective or individual, claimed by known organizations or committed in isolation. In our perspective, we try to apprehend the attraction power of the Jihadi narrative issue taking the Theory of Social Representations as a paradigmatic framework. This implies that we dont consider the Jihadi current membership as the manifestation of a deviation from normality or optimal rationality, but as the expression of a certain common sense resonance. More precisely, and taking the case of the Tunisian context, the success of the Jihadi narrative is explained by its effectiveness as an interpretive grid and as a guide for action, making it possible to re-anchor a reality lacking in meaning. This hypothesis of a re-anchoring implies that anchoring as described by Moscovici as one of the two processes at the origin of the social representations formation (with the objectification process), could be not only as a familiarization of the strange by inserting it in an already known pre-existing frame, but by substituting to the frame itself, a new one, in order to be able to insert familiar objects which would have lost their sense precisely because of the old frame itself. This hypothesis could offer a theoretical and heuristic perspective allowing the anchoring process to be conceived as a circular and non-definitive process.

Serge Moscovici’s work

We organized recently an international workshop in Greece, to confront our ideas about two major theories of Serge Moscovici. The theory of social representations (1961) and the theory of minority influence (1976). It was a question of tracing the perspectives of the legacy he had left us. This book is the collective trace of this work. It is organized in three parts. The first part deals with the epistemic and theoretical questions raised by Serge Moscovici’s work. It begins with a historical reminder of his contribution to the formation of the European Association of Social Psychology. The second part of the book presents recent developments in the theory of minority influence. The actual and potential developments of this theory is discussed. The third part is devoted to the theory of social representations. The topics discussed show that this theory has become a reference theory in social sciences for the analysis of societal issues. One could see in this book a form of homage to the work of Serge Moscovici. But it should above all be seen as a tribute to the liveliness and relevance of the theories he has bequeathed to us.

Comparative study on the social representations of cancer and breast cancer

Background The symbolic universe of cancer is associated with death, but its treatment has undergone innumerable innovations, which may lead to a new meaning for social representations. The theory of social representations seeks the new, which changes in the knowledge of common sense (Guareschi & Jovchelovitch, 1994). Thus, the objective of this work is to identify the social representations of cancer and breast cancer, identifying their changes and their meanings based on the central nucleus and the peripheral system. Methods Qualitative and descriptive study, based on the structural approach of the theory of social representations. The sample was non-probabilistic and due to accessibility. The collection instrument was a Word Evocation Test with two inducing words, ‘cancer’ and ‘breast cancer’. The subjects were asked to mention three words that came to their mind immediately and spontaneously. The SPSS and IRAMUTEQ software were used. Results 753 subjects participated and 2316 words were evoked for each inducing word. In the central core of cancer the words pain, illness, death, suffering. Central core of breast cancer: treatment, pain, feeling, woman, strength. Conclusions The social representation of cancer is still strongly death, while in breast cancer it is the treatment. Suffering and pain are part of the central core of the two words and continue to characterize the disease, but in breast cancer the word strength appears. It is concluded that the social representation of breast cancer is being reframed.

A Teoria das Representações Sociais e sua Inter-Relação Entre Sujeito e Objeto

Conhecer o que vem sendo descrito sobre a Teoria das Representações Sociais e sua inter-relação entre sujeito e objeto foi objetivo desta pesquisa de Revisão Integrativa. As buscas foram realizadas no mês de julho de 2019. O operador booleano and foi utilizado entre os termos saúde, sustentabilidade e teoria das Representações Sociais, Nos Idiomas Português E Inglês, Sendo Consultadas As Bases Lilacs, Medline/PubMed e PAHO e Google acadêmico. Os filtros foram: ser publicado nos últimos cinco anos, ter como frase exata/citação “Serge Moscovici” e ser artigo científico original. A análise dos dados decorreu do método Análise de conteúdo, resultando em três categorias: “Teoria das Representações Sociais”, que trouxe possibilidades de interpretar conhecimentos, relacionamentos e experiências atreladas ao individual e ao coletivo. A segunda categoria “Teoria das Representações Sociais e os universos: Consensual e Reificado” retrata os entrelaces e afastamentos do olhar empírico e do científico. A última categoria “Teoria das Representações Sociais e os processos: Ancoragem e Objetivação” demonstra como são organizados os pensamentos que vão formar as representações sociais, sendo considerados mecanismos que alicerçam a Teoria. Conclui-se que a Teoria das Representações Sociais não apresenta limites de utilização por temática, ela é abrangente e pode revelar grandes achados e mostrar formas de interpretar coisas iguais com olhares e descrições diferentes. No campo da saúde e da sustentabilidade esta teoria é uma ferramenta para interpretar concepções, atitudes e comportamentos de indivíduos e de grupos. Palavras-chave: Saúde. Sustentabilidade. Teoria das Representações Sociais. Abstract The aim of this research of Integrated Review was to know what has been described about the Theories of Social Representations and its inter-relation between subject and object. The researches were conducted during July 2019. The Boolean operator and was used among the terms health, sustainability and theory of social representations, in the English and Portuguese languages, being consulted in the Lilacs, Medline/PubMed and PAHO and Academic Google databases. The filters were: had been published in the last five years, having as exact/citation sentence “Serge Moscovici” and being an original scientific paper. The analysis of data was originated from the method Analysis of content, resulting in three categories: “The Theories of Social representation” which brought possibilities of interpreting knowledge, relationships and experiences related to the individual and the collectivity. The second category: “Theory of Social Representations and the universes: Consensual and Reified” which describes the interlaces and distances of empiric and scientific view. The last category: “Theory of Social Representations and the processes: Anchorage and Objectivation” which demonstrates how thoughts are organized which are responsible for making the social representations, being considered the base mechanisms of the Theory. It is concluded that the Theory of Social Representations do not present limits of utilization by themes, it is vast and can reveal big results and show ways of interpreting equal things with views and different descriptions. In the field of health and sustainability, this theory is a tool to interpret conceptions, attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups. Keywords: Health. Sustainability. The Social Representation’s Theory.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS ON COVID-19 AMONG ASSISTANCE NURSES

ABSTRACT Objective to analyze the structure of the social representations on Covid-19 among assistance nurses. Method a study with a qualitative approach, based on the Theory of Social Representations, with structural analysis, conducted with 178 nurses from Ceará, Brazil, from May to June 2020. The evocations were processed with the EVOC 2000® software, creating the four-house chart. IRAMUTEQ® was used to produce the similarity tree. Results the potential central nucleus was composed of “fear” and “isolation”, with “death” constituting the first periphery; “sadness”, “pain”, and “uncertainty” in the second periphery; and “dyspnea”, “anguish”, and “pandemic”, in the contrast zone. Conclusion at the first moment, the representations were constructed around negative feelings and emotions. New studies are indicated, with the adoption of other analysis methods to confront the findings.

SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS: Moçambican ethnicities

This article aims to bring a reflection on the theory of Social Representations from the perspective of Social Psychology. From the bibliographic review, an analogy is made between the theories of social representations, to a concrete society, in this case, the Mozambican society. Social representations have been a topic widely discussed by several and categorized authors, many of them addressing the relationship between cognition-knowledge, individual and society. For this purpose, three Mozambican ethnicities were analyzed, namely, Macuas-Lomués, Ndaus and Tsongas, in which, based on the bibliographic verification of their cultures, beliefs and values, a real analogy can be drawn between the theories on social and cultural representations. the behaviors of these ethnic groups, which make clear the different social representations in the different regions that form the country called Mozambique.The basis of the research was the bibliographic review, both to address the theoretical supports, as well as to address the Mozambican reality.

On Serge Moscovici’s 95th anniversary: The theory of social representations - history, postulates and dissemination

The theory of social representations is one of the major theories in social psychology with the thousands of scientific articles that has been published since its birth. In this article we return to the reasons for this success. First, it can be explained by the relative flexibility of the initial postulates of this theory. This flexibility has allowed researchers who are sometimes far removed from psychology to adapt it to their own problems. But the success of the theory of social representations can also be explained by the action taken by Serge Moscovici throughout his career to spread his theory throughout the world. Finally, Serge Moscovici never ceased to suggest new ideas about social representations and many of his suggestions remain untapped to this day. They constitute a real reservoir for researchers of tomorrow.