Social representation and the media
, Why look at representations & the media?
• From our youngest age, school, the family, institutions and the media, instill in us certain
ways of seeing the world and offer us a particular vision of the things around us, presenting
us largely with a ready-made construction of the world in which we grow up, the values
with which it is invested, the categories which govern it and the principles themselves by
which we understand it” (Rateau et al., 2012)
• Höijer (2011)
• “media naturalizes social thinking and generates collective cognition” (p. 3)
• Encourages to act in similar ways with similar others
• Media is a medium through which ideas and beliefs are communicated
• We can look to media as a constructive force in understanding our social world.
Media: Diffusion and Propagation
• Diffusion: The generation and dissemination of beliefs and values (Staerklé, 2015)
• Propagation: established social representations are invoked to achieve particular social
outcomes.
• Creates a ‘common field’ of representation (Doise, Clemence and Lorenzi-Cioldi, 1993)
• Media as an indirect form of diffusion
• How ‘neutral’ do you think this is?
• COUNTER ARGUMENT - “Such media have to hold the attention of mass audiences. To do so
they simplify and sensationalize expert issues.” (Joffe, 2002, p. 562)
• The media is influential in how social representations are disseminated.
• There is an interest in media that has an orientation and an audience that they are
tailored to
• Specific focus on debates, and blame
• Content is filtered through this lens, and is imbued with morals
• Individuals then become “lay thinkers” (p. 562) individuals reconceptualise content
distributed by media usually with self-protection of the in-group in mind
Social representations and the media: building our reality
• Baudrillard (1980)
• Primarily informed by the theories of Marxism and semiotics, critical of the role of
consumerism and wanted to critically evaluate this through signs, wherein activities
and processes are identified through signs, both intentional or not intentionally
constructed.
, Why look at representations & the media?
• From our youngest age, school, the family, institutions and the media, instill in us certain
ways of seeing the world and offer us a particular vision of the things around us, presenting
us largely with a ready-made construction of the world in which we grow up, the values
with which it is invested, the categories which govern it and the principles themselves by
which we understand it” (Rateau et al., 2012)
• Höijer (2011)
• “media naturalizes social thinking and generates collective cognition” (p. 3)
• Encourages to act in similar ways with similar others
• Media is a medium through which ideas and beliefs are communicated
• We can look to media as a constructive force in understanding our social world.
Media: Diffusion and Propagation
• Diffusion: The generation and dissemination of beliefs and values (Staerklé, 2015)
• Propagation: established social representations are invoked to achieve particular social
outcomes.
• Creates a ‘common field’ of representation (Doise, Clemence and Lorenzi-Cioldi, 1993)
• Media as an indirect form of diffusion
• How ‘neutral’ do you think this is?
• COUNTER ARGUMENT - “Such media have to hold the attention of mass audiences. To do so
they simplify and sensationalize expert issues.” (Joffe, 2002, p. 562)
• The media is influential in how social representations are disseminated.
• There is an interest in media that has an orientation and an audience that they are
tailored to
• Specific focus on debates, and blame
• Content is filtered through this lens, and is imbued with morals
• Individuals then become “lay thinkers” (p. 562) individuals reconceptualise content
distributed by media usually with self-protection of the in-group in mind
Social representations and the media: building our reality
• Baudrillard (1980)
• Primarily informed by the theories of Marxism and semiotics, critical of the role of
consumerism and wanted to critically evaluate this through signs, wherein activities
and processes are identified through signs, both intentional or not intentionally
constructed.
