Social Representations and the Development of Knowledge - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521021030 ISBN 13: 9780521021036

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

This volume raises for the first time developmental issues in relation to the theory of social representations, which Serge Moscovici introduced to account for the influence of social life on psychological processes. Moscovici describes a society's values, ideas, beliefs and practices as social representations that 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 change in nursery school life, gender, social divisions in society, images of childhood, emotion, intelligence and psychology. Moscovici's final chapter considers the contribution of these developmental perspectives. The book will interest specialists and students within the human and social sciences, including developmental and social psychology, sociology, and communication studies.

About this title

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.

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

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521021030
• ISBN 13: 9780521021036
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Duveen Gerard, Lloyd Barbara