Reprezentãrile sociale si memoria socialã: similitudini si diferente
Social representations and social memory: similitudes and differences

Summary/Abstract: The study investigated the possibility of transferring the techniques that are usually used in the analysis of the social representations (SR), into the analysis of the social memory contents (SM); also, the study investigated the ways in which two dissimilar paradigms of the analysis of the social memory (SM) - the sociological and the cognitive ones - could be related. In order to analyze the data, collected on a sample of 875 subjects, the inquiry made use of two different techniques: the "cognitive scale assessments" and the "SR technique". The results suggest that the elements of the social imaginary ("words running for a candidate of centrality" and "positive vs negative words") associated with the analyzed events, mainly depend on 1. the personal importance attributed to those events; 2. the vigor of the others' reactions; 3. the positive vs negative character of the evoked words; 4. the frequency of remembering those events, in conversations or watching TV. The SR technique results reveal that the above listed variables are the deciding instances of whether the SR is closer a dominant/"stereotypical" one or whether is closer a marginal/ "dissident" one. Finally, the author speculates about the role of the mass-media in generating some representations about the past or the present times, in the modern society, and suggests a sketch of his intended study.

• Details
• Contents