Social Representations

Serge Moscovici introduced the concept of social representations into contemporary social psychology. Over the last two decades, the theory of social representations has become one of the predominant approaches in social psychology, not only in Europe, but increasingly also in the Anglo-Saxon world. While Moscovici's work has extended widely across the discipline, notably through his contributions to the study of minority influence and of the psychology of crowds, the study of social representations has continued to provide the central focus for one of the most distinctive and original voices in social psychology today.This volume brings together some of Moscovici's classic statements of the theory of social representations, as well as elaborations of the distinctive features of this perspective in social psychology. In addition, the book includes recent essays in which he re-examines the intellectual history of social representations, exploring the diverse ways in which this theory has responded to a tradition of thought in the social sciences that encompasses not only the contributions of Durkheim and Piaget, but also those of Levy-Bruhl and Vygotsky. The final chapter of the book consists of an interview with Ivana Markova, in which Moscovici not only reviews his own intellectual itinerary, but also gives his views on some of the key questions facing social psychology today.