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Social Representation and the Ontology of the Social World: Bringing Another Signification into the DialogueUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico Robert Farr (1998) invites us to return to Durkheim with the aim of recovering his concept of collective representations. Accepting the proposal, a review is made of Durkheim's distinction between collective and individual representations. There we can find as the core problem an ontological question: the existence of different levels of reality that cannot be reduced to each other. Farr rephrases the problem as the ontological status of social representations, but his solution—social representations are objects of study in social psychology—falls short because says nothing concening their ontological status. Wagner's (1998) paper addresses that core problem, not in terms of a return to Durkheim, but by emphasizing the social constructionist character of the social representation approach. Wagner's analysis of the social construction of 'objects' through 'constructive events' solves diverse problems involved in the issue of the ontological status of social representations, but it is suggested that more is needed to be said about social articulation and social change. The writings of Cornelius Castoriadis are then introduced in an attempt to extend the horizon of our reflection about the problem of the ontological status of the social world and to show some of its implications in the more general field of cultural psychology.
Key Words: Castoriadis • Durkheim • individual representations • ontology of the social world • social constructionism
Culture & Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 3,
331-347 (1998) |
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