Social psychological research has increasingly extolled the benefits of intergroup contact as a m... more Social psychological research has increasingly extolled the benefits of intergroup contact as a means of promoting positive relations. However, a growing body of research suggests that formal policies of desegregation are often offset by informal ‘micro-ecological’ practices of (re)-segregation, in everyday life spaces. This paper presents a systematic literature review of recent evidence on this topic (2001-2017), outlining key findings about how, when, where, and why micro-ecological divisions are reproduced. Informal segregation can happen based on ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, or gender and ethnicity, despite people being in a shared place. People generally maintain patterns of ingroup isolation as a result of: a) negative attitudes and stereotypes; b) ingroup identification and threat; or c) feelings of anxiety, fear and insecurity. Educational settings have been the main context studied, followed by leisure and recreational places, public urban places and ...
Inconsistency between the expressed support for resource-conservation ideas and behaviours has em... more Inconsistency between the expressed support for resource-conservation ideas and behaviours has emphasised the need to develop a better understanding of the psychosocial processes through which formal laws (reified universe) also become informal norms (consensual universe). Experimental paradigms of the sociocognitive approach to social norms are able to assess if cultural change fostered by the legal/reified universe have been incorporated by society to the level of influencing, and being expected, in interpersonal communications. This article proposes to combine elements from the social representations theory and the sociocognitive approach to social norms in a diagnose proposal for cultural change (appropriation and consensualisation dimensions). Through a self-presentation paradigm, results of Study 1 show that conservation beliefs and behaviours are indeed used in interpersonal contexts in order to be well-seen; yet this informal valorisation is context-dependant. In Study 2 a hetero-evaluation paradigm was used. Results show that conservation beliefs are socially valued and crucial for people to be positively seen (appropriation). Yet the expression of conservation behaviours is not required (consensualisation). Overall, these results show that conservation beliefs and behaviours have become informal norms in Portugal. Still, this valorisation is not yet homogeneous; it partially tolerates belief-behaviour inconsistency, a typical dynamic of emancipated representations.
Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strat... more Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strategies. The main research goal is to provide evidence on how impactful public policies on environmental sustainability in Portugal are at the regional level, in various policy areas. In this context, this paper analyses the main impacts of the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (PO SEUR 2014–20). The research uses a territorial impact assessment (TIA) methodology (TARGET_TIA) to assess these impacts in five analytic dimensions (economy with low emissions, adaptation to climate change, risk prevention and management, environmental protection and resource efficiency) in the five mainland Portuguese NUTS 2. It concludes that, in overall terms, PO SEUR produced low to moderate positive impacts in all NUTS II and analysed dimensions, but it was particularly positive in measures fostering adaptation to climate change, and less impactful in measure...
Today artisanal fishers working in Natura 2000 coastal protected sites face two major types of ch... more Today artisanal fishers working in Natura 2000 coastal protected sites face two major types of change: in marine resources, and the governance of their professions. Such transformations affect fishers' livelihoods, identities and traditions, yet little is known about how these professionals elaborate on these changesi.e., as continuities or discontinuities-in the narratives they produce as a group. Interviews and focus-groups with artisanal fishers and shellfish harvesters (n=36) from the Portuguese Southwest coast were subjected to a two-step analysis. First, a textual analysis with Iramuteq helped select the themes directly related to marine resources and governance. Second, three main narratives-on algae, barnacles and fish-were reconstructed. These were then explored regarding: (1) narrative formats (stability, regressive, progressive, mixed); (2) whether/how these formats elaborated changes as continuities or discontinuities; (3) the roles attributed to Self and Others, and whether and how these legitimized the laws, opening avenues for change; and (4) whether narratives were unified or fragmented. This study illustrates how transformations are presented through various combinations of narrative formats, sometimes mobilized to resist and other times to legitimate legal institutional change. It shows how institutional change can be integrated into local narratives as a positive contribution through a process that implies reconstructing the collective identity and local traditions. Through a narrative approach, this paper offers an integrated examination of fishers' concerns towards their professions and the laws regulating them, and provides useful insight into how and when marine governance is more/less likely to be legitimized.
Debates over the value and compatibility of different approaches to understanding and changing en... more Debates over the value and compatibility of different approaches to understanding and changing environmental-relevant actions proliferate across the social sciences. This article reviews and discusses some of the (socio-)psychological and sociological approaches in those debates. We will start by critically reviewing the (socio-)psychological perspectives, highlighting two main shortcomings. First, they are often partial in their focus-concentrating on the consumption side of climate relevant actions and, relatedly in changing these actions at the individual level. They tend to assume that individual change equates to social change and, with that, fail to contextualise 'anti'environmental actions in current neo-liberal, capitalist societies. Second, they usually present the mainstream (socio-)psychological approaches, which are ontologically individualistic and cognitive, as the only existent ones, therefore neglecting other perspectives within Social Psychology which might actually be (more) compatible with sociological perspectives. We then suggest that Social Representations Theory (SRT), as an ontologically social-psychological approach and a theory of social change, might be reconciled with sociological approaches, such as Social Practices Theory (SPT), in contrast to the more individualistic (socio-)psychological perspectives. After reviewing the main tenets of SRT, its discrepancies and potential synergies with SPT, we discuss how the two can be articulated to understand different stages of the social change process towards more environmentally sustainable societies. While SPT might be more suitable to understand stability or how some actions become habitual, SRT might be better equipped to understand how those change, or how individuals and groups negotiate new actions with old ones.
The goal of this study is to examine the argumentative functions of concessive yes, but… construc... more The goal of this study is to examine the argumentative functions of concessive yes, but… constructions. Based on ( N = 22) interview transcripts, we examine the ways environmental activists negotiate their agreements and disagreements over climate change through yes, but… constructions. Starting from conversational analyses of such concessive sequences, we develop an account grounded in argumentative discourse analysis, notably pragma-dialectics. The analysis focuses on how in conceding arguments speakers re-present others’ discourse, what types of criticism they exercise through particular sequential patterns and which argumentative techniques they saliently use. We show in particular that, in disputing the standpoints supported by the complex argumentation they encounter, speakers raise different types of criticism (sufficiency, relevance, acceptability). We discuss how examining not only the sequencing of agreements and disagreements, but also the argumentative relations that gen...
To mark 50 years of research on social representations (SR), we planned both a special issue and ... more To mark 50 years of research on social representations (SR), we planned both a special issue and a conference to bring together some of the most significant papers from the last 50 years. We are delighted to present the main trends of this special issue in this editorial, and are also extremely happy with the level of thought and debate it has produced. In launching the call for the special issue, rather than reduce this celebration of the 50 years of SR to an obsessive trend towards bibliometrics and impact factors, we felt it would be more informative and thought-provoking to have a collection of papers nominated by those who use them-researchers, teachers, peers, students-as the most debated, insightful, illustrative or valuable for them in their research and teaching. This issue brings together the best of these commentaries, together with the original papers chosen in those commentaries as the most significant and, in some cases, further commentary from the original authors. Hence a defining feature of this special issue was dialogue-dialogue not only between older and newer texts and protagonists in SR, but also between teachers and students, and between researchers with different perspectives, working in different contexts with different methods and politics of research and with different intervention needs and different goals for the future
ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has in the last decades proposed several policies to promote sus... more ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has in the last decades proposed several policies to promote sustainable forms of energy production. This topic brings together environmental concerns and technological innovation, two domains traditionally seen as opposite. To help understand how the publics mobilize for this debate, we examined the Science & Technology (S&T) and Public Understanding of Science (PUS) 2010 Eurobarometer resorting to a multi-level approach. We examined the role of cultural aspects, like worldviews and institutional trust, and country-level distinctions, namely the stage of accession to EU. Results show that egalitarians are more supportive of solar energy and less supportive of nuclear energy than hierarchics, although support for both technologies is (positively) predicted mainly by institutional trust. Active involvement in S&T and Environmental matters relies mostly on awareness about environmental problems, but is also related to believing technology will provide inexhaustible resources. At the contextual-level, newer EU member-states are less supportive of solar energy, more supportive of nuclear energy and less actively engaged in civic participation than older member-states. The findings highlight the intricate liaison between environmental and technological matters in the public debate about energy production and bring to the fore the relevance of legal innovation as determinant of value change.
This triple dimension/level (3x3) approach has helped us design instruments that are better suite... more This triple dimension/level (3x3) approach has helped us design instruments that are better suited to each case. Fundamentally, the instruments include surveys/questionnaires, semistructured interviews, focus groups as well as analyses of institutional sources. Observational studies have been ruled out for the purposes of the PLACES project. Aside from their advantages in social science, their use in the project was unfeasible due to the extensive nature of the project (the large number of case studies and participating countries). Once a consensus is reached for the design of the operational schema, instruments, and concrete questions, specific cases to be studied will be selected. One or more instruments will then be selected for each case. Case studies in the PLACES project aim to sow the seed for the study of the social impact of SCIPs at the local/regional level. It is our hope that this work will go on to gain more depth in the future as a result of further research and case studies. We encourage other researchers (including those pertaining to universities and research centres as well as the very staff members of the organisations responsible for the SCIPs) to use this toolkit partially or in full, selecting and adapting its elements for their particular needs.
Cognitive polyphasia has mainly been used to address encounters between innovative scientific kno... more Cognitive polyphasia has mainly been used to address encounters between innovative scientific knowledge and local, traditional knowledge. Yet, change and innovation occur in many spheres of life, not just in the scientific one. In this paper we examine the encounter between new laws-or legal innovations-and local knowledge, and discuss how the normative force of new laws shapes communication and cognitive polyphasia. We specifically focus on the Generalisation phase of legal innovation, when new laws are translated into concrete practices, the social debate is more intense, and cognitive polyphasia is more likely to occur. We present empirical data from focus groups and interviews to illustrate how this happens for the specific case of the reception of new biodiversity conservation laws affecting communities living in protected sites. We also examine the positions of professionals from local mediating systems, illustrating how they manage the dilemmas linked to the introduction of new laws. The results illustrate the contexts of use of non-polyphasic and polyphasic interventions; they also show how polyphasia is expressed by two divergent argumentative formats (thematisation and Mouro & Castro Cognitive Polyphasia in the Reception of Legal Innovations
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2014
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Batel, S. & Castro, P. (2015). Collec... more This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Batel, S. & Castro, P. (2015). Collective action and social change: examining the role of representation in the communication between protesters and third-party members. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. 25 (3),
... 20094. Carrus , G. , F. Cini , M. Bonaiuto , and A. Mauro . ... a certain perspective on the ... more ... 20094. Carrus , G. , F. Cini , M. Bonaiuto , and A. Mauro . ... a certain perspective on the subject, reflect the projects of those who are better positioned in the power structure within a community, or alternatively air the disputes of the various groups comprising it (Armstrong 20061 ...
One of the ways to tackle the current environmental crisis is by trying to change beliefs and beh... more One of the ways to tackle the current environmental crisis is by trying to change beliefs and behaviors through the issuance of new laws. But laws and formal norms only become effective once they are also informally valued. This paper aims at determining whether law-regulated pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors (a) have acquired social value in Brazil, as they have in Europe and (b) pertain to two different construal levels, which could help explain the persistent belief-behavior gap in the environmental field. These two objectives are addressed in two studies using self-presentation and hetero-judgment paradigms. Results confirm the proposed hypotheses and are discussed in terms of social change for sustainability.
This paper discusses the potential of the notions of reification and consensualization as develop... more This paper discusses the potential of the notions of reification and consensualization as developed by the theory of social representations as analytical tools for addressing the communication between the lay and scientific spheres. Social Representations Theory started by offering an over-sharp distinction between the reified and the consensual universes of which science and common sense, respectively, were presented as paradigmatic. This paper, however, suggests that the notions of consensual and reified can be considered as describing two distinct communicative formats: reification implying the use of arguments which establish prescriptions for representations and action, and consensualization relying on arguments which recognize the heterogeneity of representation and action. We illustrate this proposal through the analysis of a case in which the expert and the lay spheres of a Lisbon neighborhood opposed each other regarding the new laws of public participation in community matters. This analysis showed how reification and consensualization can be used as discursive strategies by both spheres. The implications of the use of reification and consensualization as communicative formats and how they may depend on several power resources and have different impacts on change are discussed.
This article addresses the difficulties of generalizing new norms and practices, focusing on the ... more This article addresses the difficulties of generalizing new norms and practices, focusing on the role of the legal system for proposing change and innovation to society. It first presents some contributions offered by the social representational approach for understanding these issues, based on the assumptions of the interdependence both of change and stability, and of the social and the individual. Afterwards it is argued that for advancing the study of change the approach needs to offer more attention to: (1) the role of expert mediating systems regarding the translation of new norms to concrete contexts and their articulation with practices; (2) the arguments and discursive strategies employed in everyday communication to resist change with normative force; and (3) the consequences for the relations between representations and practices of the distinction between 'transcendent' and 'immanent' representations. In the empirical part of the paper, and with the goal o...
Social psychological research has increasingly extolled the benefits of intergroup contact as a m... more Social psychological research has increasingly extolled the benefits of intergroup contact as a means of promoting positive relations. However, a growing body of research suggests that formal policies of desegregation are often offset by informal ‘micro-ecological’ practices of (re)-segregation, in everyday life spaces. This paper presents a systematic literature review of recent evidence on this topic (2001-2017), outlining key findings about how, when, where, and why micro-ecological divisions are reproduced. Informal segregation can happen based on ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, or gender and ethnicity, despite people being in a shared place. People generally maintain patterns of ingroup isolation as a result of: a) negative attitudes and stereotypes; b) ingroup identification and threat; or c) feelings of anxiety, fear and insecurity. Educational settings have been the main context studied, followed by leisure and recreational places, public urban places and ...
Inconsistency between the expressed support for resource-conservation ideas and behaviours has em... more Inconsistency between the expressed support for resource-conservation ideas and behaviours has emphasised the need to develop a better understanding of the psychosocial processes through which formal laws (reified universe) also become informal norms (consensual universe). Experimental paradigms of the sociocognitive approach to social norms are able to assess if cultural change fostered by the legal/reified universe have been incorporated by society to the level of influencing, and being expected, in interpersonal communications. This article proposes to combine elements from the social representations theory and the sociocognitive approach to social norms in a diagnose proposal for cultural change (appropriation and consensualisation dimensions). Through a self-presentation paradigm, results of Study 1 show that conservation beliefs and behaviours are indeed used in interpersonal contexts in order to be well-seen; yet this informal valorisation is context-dependant. In Study 2 a hetero-evaluation paradigm was used. Results show that conservation beliefs are socially valued and crucial for people to be positively seen (appropriation). Yet the expression of conservation behaviours is not required (consensualisation). Overall, these results show that conservation beliefs and behaviours have become informal norms in Portugal. Still, this valorisation is not yet homogeneous; it partially tolerates belief-behaviour inconsistency, a typical dynamic of emancipated representations.
Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strat... more Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strategies. The main research goal is to provide evidence on how impactful public policies on environmental sustainability in Portugal are at the regional level, in various policy areas. In this context, this paper analyses the main impacts of the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (PO SEUR 2014–20). The research uses a territorial impact assessment (TIA) methodology (TARGET_TIA) to assess these impacts in five analytic dimensions (economy with low emissions, adaptation to climate change, risk prevention and management, environmental protection and resource efficiency) in the five mainland Portuguese NUTS 2. It concludes that, in overall terms, PO SEUR produced low to moderate positive impacts in all NUTS II and analysed dimensions, but it was particularly positive in measures fostering adaptation to climate change, and less impactful in measure...
Today artisanal fishers working in Natura 2000 coastal protected sites face two major types of ch... more Today artisanal fishers working in Natura 2000 coastal protected sites face two major types of change: in marine resources, and the governance of their professions. Such transformations affect fishers' livelihoods, identities and traditions, yet little is known about how these professionals elaborate on these changesi.e., as continuities or discontinuities-in the narratives they produce as a group. Interviews and focus-groups with artisanal fishers and shellfish harvesters (n=36) from the Portuguese Southwest coast were subjected to a two-step analysis. First, a textual analysis with Iramuteq helped select the themes directly related to marine resources and governance. Second, three main narratives-on algae, barnacles and fish-were reconstructed. These were then explored regarding: (1) narrative formats (stability, regressive, progressive, mixed); (2) whether/how these formats elaborated changes as continuities or discontinuities; (3) the roles attributed to Self and Others, and whether and how these legitimized the laws, opening avenues for change; and (4) whether narratives were unified or fragmented. This study illustrates how transformations are presented through various combinations of narrative formats, sometimes mobilized to resist and other times to legitimate legal institutional change. It shows how institutional change can be integrated into local narratives as a positive contribution through a process that implies reconstructing the collective identity and local traditions. Through a narrative approach, this paper offers an integrated examination of fishers' concerns towards their professions and the laws regulating them, and provides useful insight into how and when marine governance is more/less likely to be legitimized.
Debates over the value and compatibility of different approaches to understanding and changing en... more Debates over the value and compatibility of different approaches to understanding and changing environmental-relevant actions proliferate across the social sciences. This article reviews and discusses some of the (socio-)psychological and sociological approaches in those debates. We will start by critically reviewing the (socio-)psychological perspectives, highlighting two main shortcomings. First, they are often partial in their focus-concentrating on the consumption side of climate relevant actions and, relatedly in changing these actions at the individual level. They tend to assume that individual change equates to social change and, with that, fail to contextualise 'anti'environmental actions in current neo-liberal, capitalist societies. Second, they usually present the mainstream (socio-)psychological approaches, which are ontologically individualistic and cognitive, as the only existent ones, therefore neglecting other perspectives within Social Psychology which might actually be (more) compatible with sociological perspectives. We then suggest that Social Representations Theory (SRT), as an ontologically social-psychological approach and a theory of social change, might be reconciled with sociological approaches, such as Social Practices Theory (SPT), in contrast to the more individualistic (socio-)psychological perspectives. After reviewing the main tenets of SRT, its discrepancies and potential synergies with SPT, we discuss how the two can be articulated to understand different stages of the social change process towards more environmentally sustainable societies. While SPT might be more suitable to understand stability or how some actions become habitual, SRT might be better equipped to understand how those change, or how individuals and groups negotiate new actions with old ones.
The goal of this study is to examine the argumentative functions of concessive yes, but… construc... more The goal of this study is to examine the argumentative functions of concessive yes, but… constructions. Based on ( N = 22) interview transcripts, we examine the ways environmental activists negotiate their agreements and disagreements over climate change through yes, but… constructions. Starting from conversational analyses of such concessive sequences, we develop an account grounded in argumentative discourse analysis, notably pragma-dialectics. The analysis focuses on how in conceding arguments speakers re-present others’ discourse, what types of criticism they exercise through particular sequential patterns and which argumentative techniques they saliently use. We show in particular that, in disputing the standpoints supported by the complex argumentation they encounter, speakers raise different types of criticism (sufficiency, relevance, acceptability). We discuss how examining not only the sequencing of agreements and disagreements, but also the argumentative relations that gen...
To mark 50 years of research on social representations (SR), we planned both a special issue and ... more To mark 50 years of research on social representations (SR), we planned both a special issue and a conference to bring together some of the most significant papers from the last 50 years. We are delighted to present the main trends of this special issue in this editorial, and are also extremely happy with the level of thought and debate it has produced. In launching the call for the special issue, rather than reduce this celebration of the 50 years of SR to an obsessive trend towards bibliometrics and impact factors, we felt it would be more informative and thought-provoking to have a collection of papers nominated by those who use them-researchers, teachers, peers, students-as the most debated, insightful, illustrative or valuable for them in their research and teaching. This issue brings together the best of these commentaries, together with the original papers chosen in those commentaries as the most significant and, in some cases, further commentary from the original authors. Hence a defining feature of this special issue was dialogue-dialogue not only between older and newer texts and protagonists in SR, but also between teachers and students, and between researchers with different perspectives, working in different contexts with different methods and politics of research and with different intervention needs and different goals for the future
ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has in the last decades proposed several policies to promote sus... more ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has in the last decades proposed several policies to promote sustainable forms of energy production. This topic brings together environmental concerns and technological innovation, two domains traditionally seen as opposite. To help understand how the publics mobilize for this debate, we examined the Science & Technology (S&T) and Public Understanding of Science (PUS) 2010 Eurobarometer resorting to a multi-level approach. We examined the role of cultural aspects, like worldviews and institutional trust, and country-level distinctions, namely the stage of accession to EU. Results show that egalitarians are more supportive of solar energy and less supportive of nuclear energy than hierarchics, although support for both technologies is (positively) predicted mainly by institutional trust. Active involvement in S&T and Environmental matters relies mostly on awareness about environmental problems, but is also related to believing technology will provide inexhaustible resources. At the contextual-level, newer EU member-states are less supportive of solar energy, more supportive of nuclear energy and less actively engaged in civic participation than older member-states. The findings highlight the intricate liaison between environmental and technological matters in the public debate about energy production and bring to the fore the relevance of legal innovation as determinant of value change.
This triple dimension/level (3x3) approach has helped us design instruments that are better suite... more This triple dimension/level (3x3) approach has helped us design instruments that are better suited to each case. Fundamentally, the instruments include surveys/questionnaires, semistructured interviews, focus groups as well as analyses of institutional sources. Observational studies have been ruled out for the purposes of the PLACES project. Aside from their advantages in social science, their use in the project was unfeasible due to the extensive nature of the project (the large number of case studies and participating countries). Once a consensus is reached for the design of the operational schema, instruments, and concrete questions, specific cases to be studied will be selected. One or more instruments will then be selected for each case. Case studies in the PLACES project aim to sow the seed for the study of the social impact of SCIPs at the local/regional level. It is our hope that this work will go on to gain more depth in the future as a result of further research and case studies. We encourage other researchers (including those pertaining to universities and research centres as well as the very staff members of the organisations responsible for the SCIPs) to use this toolkit partially or in full, selecting and adapting its elements for their particular needs.
Cognitive polyphasia has mainly been used to address encounters between innovative scientific kno... more Cognitive polyphasia has mainly been used to address encounters between innovative scientific knowledge and local, traditional knowledge. Yet, change and innovation occur in many spheres of life, not just in the scientific one. In this paper we examine the encounter between new laws-or legal innovations-and local knowledge, and discuss how the normative force of new laws shapes communication and cognitive polyphasia. We specifically focus on the Generalisation phase of legal innovation, when new laws are translated into concrete practices, the social debate is more intense, and cognitive polyphasia is more likely to occur. We present empirical data from focus groups and interviews to illustrate how this happens for the specific case of the reception of new biodiversity conservation laws affecting communities living in protected sites. We also examine the positions of professionals from local mediating systems, illustrating how they manage the dilemmas linked to the introduction of new laws. The results illustrate the contexts of use of non-polyphasic and polyphasic interventions; they also show how polyphasia is expressed by two divergent argumentative formats (thematisation and Mouro & Castro Cognitive Polyphasia in the Reception of Legal Innovations
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2014
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Batel, S. & Castro, P. (2015). Collec... more This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Batel, S. & Castro, P. (2015). Collective action and social change: examining the role of representation in the communication between protesters and third-party members. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. 25 (3),
... 20094. Carrus , G. , F. Cini , M. Bonaiuto , and A. Mauro . ... a certain perspective on the ... more ... 20094. Carrus , G. , F. Cini , M. Bonaiuto , and A. Mauro . ... a certain perspective on the subject, reflect the projects of those who are better positioned in the power structure within a community, or alternatively air the disputes of the various groups comprising it (Armstrong 20061 ...
One of the ways to tackle the current environmental crisis is by trying to change beliefs and beh... more One of the ways to tackle the current environmental crisis is by trying to change beliefs and behaviors through the issuance of new laws. But laws and formal norms only become effective once they are also informally valued. This paper aims at determining whether law-regulated pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors (a) have acquired social value in Brazil, as they have in Europe and (b) pertain to two different construal levels, which could help explain the persistent belief-behavior gap in the environmental field. These two objectives are addressed in two studies using self-presentation and hetero-judgment paradigms. Results confirm the proposed hypotheses and are discussed in terms of social change for sustainability.
This paper discusses the potential of the notions of reification and consensualization as develop... more This paper discusses the potential of the notions of reification and consensualization as developed by the theory of social representations as analytical tools for addressing the communication between the lay and scientific spheres. Social Representations Theory started by offering an over-sharp distinction between the reified and the consensual universes of which science and common sense, respectively, were presented as paradigmatic. This paper, however, suggests that the notions of consensual and reified can be considered as describing two distinct communicative formats: reification implying the use of arguments which establish prescriptions for representations and action, and consensualization relying on arguments which recognize the heterogeneity of representation and action. We illustrate this proposal through the analysis of a case in which the expert and the lay spheres of a Lisbon neighborhood opposed each other regarding the new laws of public participation in community matters. This analysis showed how reification and consensualization can be used as discursive strategies by both spheres. The implications of the use of reification and consensualization as communicative formats and how they may depend on several power resources and have different impacts on change are discussed.
This article addresses the difficulties of generalizing new norms and practices, focusing on the ... more This article addresses the difficulties of generalizing new norms and practices, focusing on the role of the legal system for proposing change and innovation to society. It first presents some contributions offered by the social representational approach for understanding these issues, based on the assumptions of the interdependence both of change and stability, and of the social and the individual. Afterwards it is argued that for advancing the study of change the approach needs to offer more attention to: (1) the role of expert mediating systems regarding the translation of new norms to concrete contexts and their articulation with practices; (2) the arguments and discursive strategies employed in everyday communication to resist change with normative force; and (3) the consequences for the relations between representations and practices of the distinction between 'transcendent' and 'immanent' representations. In the empirical part of the paper, and with the goal o...
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Papers by Paula Castro