Knowledge in Context by JOVCHELOVITCH SANDRA.;

Author:JOVCHELOVITCH, SANDRA.;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Knowledge and public spheres

When Moscovici transformed the sociological concept of collective representations into the social psychological concept of social representations he provided the means to capture how the symbolic knowledge produced by a community of people changed as a function of larger transformations occurring in the public sphere. He noted that in contemporary public spheres representations were contested and open to scrutiny, sprang from different sources of authority and needed arguments as sources of legitimation. It was not possible to sustain knowledge just by appealing to some recognised centre of authority because there were new forms of contestation in social fields. Active minorities, for instance, were imposing a great deal of innovation by challenging dominant and relatively homogeneous views; in many respects Moscovici’s theory of active minorities is deeply connected with his theory of social representations. But the move from collective to social representations betrays a deeper concern of Moscovici, one that is visible in his commanding analysis of Durkheim and Weber and the implicit social psychologies that lie behind their work; one that is to be found not only at the core of the theory of social representations, but throughout his writings: the concern with social innovation, or how to break up and transform the order of things. It is this concern that makes Moscovici indebted to Weber as much as to Durkheim. Although it is to Durkheim that commentators grant the source of inspiration for the theory of social representations, Weber is no less present in Moscovici’s social psychology. It could be said that social representations are born out of a contrast between Durkheim and Weber; out of the struggle between a perfect theory of social conformity provided by Durkheim and a theory of innovation and minority influence provided by Weber (Moscovici 1993). In fact, it is in the sociology of Weber that Moscovici locates the issues that drive the move from collective to social representations: innovation, the importance of individuals and the transformations active minorities can impose in the shape and nature of a public sphere.

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