Social representation of competition and fraud

Good citizenship includes fair competitive strategies. Dishonest competitive behaviour – such as fraud – can reflect the absence of one main characteristic of good citizenship as mindfulness of laws and social rules. This article investigates the social representation of competition and fraud with two samples of students from business schools in France and in Hungary. Two complementary studies were carried out with P. Vergès’ associative method and C. Flament and M. L. Rouquette’s tools. The purpose of the first study (NFrench=104, NHungarian=107) is to characterize the central core of the respondents’ representation of both competition and fraud. On the basis of different cultural, historical and economic backgrounds, it was expected that the concepts of fraud and competition would overlap more extensively among Hungarian students than among French students. Results from the first study suggest only slight differences regarding the content of the representations; moreover, in both samples the representations of competition and fraud lacked significant overlap. Hungarian representations of competition and fraud are characterized by a lower level of coherence. Furthermore, academic cheating is mentioned more frequently by Hungarian students than by French students. Following the methodological guidelines of social representations, in order to confirm the results of the first study, a second investigation was carried out (NFrench=115, NHungarian=127) with an alternative associative method. These results confirmed the first study in terms of the content of the social representations and differences regarding coherence. Finally, in the case of Hungarian students a higher prevalence of reference to academic cheating, and links between fraud and competition were found. Hungarians’ competitive result orientation, linked social representations of competition and fraud via a higher prevalence of academic cheating which can refer to the weaker inclination of Hungarians in terms of rule keeping behaviours, which is one of the hallmarks of a good citizen

Social Representation of Elderly Violence

One of the consequences of aging is the stress of necessary adjustments in living arrangements which carry with it changes in social participation and dependency. These give rise to the phenomenon under investigation in this study: that of violence…often blatant, but sometimes muted. The literature speaks of an increase in the phenomenon worldwide which can be obscured in the non evident cases. This study attempts to surmount the obstacles not only by delving into the epidemiology, but investigating its significance and representations via the comparison of expressions from a studied population in two countries: United States and Portugal. We present the partial results of a research using both qualitative and quantitative methodology that examines the social representations of elderly violence using the framework of Moscovici's Social Representation Theory. We analysed the thoughts of sixty participants divided into three categories : elderly individuals, family members and health workers. Content analysis was treated by the ALCESTE software that allows the comparison between the elements of the corpus of words or sentences. The results revealed the social representation of elderly violence for the subjects considering their cultural differences. It also highlights the importance of the reciprocity between individuals and the environment where violence occurs. In addition, evidences the lack of educational preparation of two main support pillars to the elderly: family and health professionals. The similarities of terms associated with violence points to the possibility of using a consensual concept proposed by the authors to promote preventative strategies while discussing the phenomenon

Social representation of sexual violence

El presente estudio explora las representaciones sociales de la violencia sexual en los estudiantes de las Escuelas Secundarias de Sicilia. En cuanto a la representación social de la violencia sexual y sus posibles causas, parece ser importante el valor limitado dado a la violencia sexual en lo se refiere únicamente a aquellos comportamientos que requieren fuerza física, mientras que el abuso sexual en formas sutiles no es considerado como tal. Entre las posibles causas de la violencia sexual, los estudiantes de las escuelas de gramática, más que los estudiantes de las escuelas técnicas, creen que las causas vienen de la concepción abusiva de la identidad, el comportamiento ambiguo de la víctima y la falta de consideración hacia los derechos personales subjetivos. Los hombres más que las mujeres, atribuyeron la postura provocativa de la víctima como la causa principal de la violencia sexual. Además la muestra cree que la víctima sólo hablará con personas con las que él o ella se sienta cercano emocionalmente. El patrón de comportamiento y objetivos educativos que permiten afirmar la identidad en el pleno respeto de los demás, así como medidas preventivas muy severas a los infractores, pueden desempeñar un papel importante en la prevención de la violencia sexual. El marco general esboza una representación social de la violencia sexual en los adolescentes que necesitan una intensa labor de prevención primaria.The present study explored the social representations of sexual violence in Sicilian secondary schools students. Regarding the social representation of sexual violence and its possible causes, it appears to be important the limited meaning given to sexual violence referred only to those behaviors that require physical strength, whereas sexual abuse subtle forms were not regarded as sexual violence. Among the possible causes of sexual violence, grammar schools students more than students of technical schools believe that the causes are mostly brought back to the identity conception of predatory, to ambiguous behavior of the victim and to the lack of consideration of subjective personal rights. Males more than females, attributed the provocative posture of the victim as the main cause of sexual violence. Furthermore the sample believes that the victim will only talk with people whom he or she feels emotionally close and that the behavioral pattern and educational goals that allow to affirm their identity in full respect of others, as very severe preventive measures on offenders, can play an important role in preventing sexual violence. The overall framework outlines a social representation of sexual violence in adolescents that need an intense work of primary prevention

“It is only extra information…”: Social representation and value preferences of gay men in Hungary

Nowadays the grounds for existence of homosexual identities can be questioned: in an increasing number of societies we can witness that homosexuality loses its identity constructing capacity. In these places homosexuality is not a focal point of social attention any longer, and while same-sex attraction can remain an important factor in organising one’s individual life, it will not hinder the social integration of individuals. Thus if homosexuality still has a strong identity constructing capacity in a society, it can suggest that the given society is dominated by exclusive monolithic homosexual and heterosexual identity patterns which can threaten the successful social integration of people. The presupposition of my research is that the salience of homosexual identities—attributed by outgroups, and internalised by ingroup members— is a social symptom. The (potentially unifying) concept and the practical realisation of homosexual identity can be seen as the product of social stigmatisation and discrimination: the greater the proportion of signs of rejecting individual difference, the more widespread personal and group identities are organised by and around these differences. This type of stigmatisation can be interpreted in general as a social symptom reflecting the rejection of the right to be different. This paper presents findings of empirical research conducted between 1998 and 2000 in Hungary on the social representation and the value preferences of Hungarian men identifying themselves as gays.1 In the first part of the paper I will present quantitative research findings on the specific value preferences of Hungarian gay men that could be interpreted as indicators of the existence of homosexual identities. In the second part I will present qualitative findings focusing on the connection between social representation of homosexuality and the development of threatened identities

Gaming can be sustainable too! Using Social Representation Theory to examine the moderating effects of tourism diversification on residents' tax paying behavior

Tourism authorities in the Las Vegas region have suggested the diversification of the tourism industry as a strategy to improve the vitality of rural communities outside of the metropolitan area. The present study uses Social Representation Theory as the conceptual basis to test the moderating effects of the various types of proposed tourism development on residents' willingness to pay higher taxes to support such development. A survey of 301 residents in Las Vegas rural communities examined how the factors of economic dependence on tourism, community attachment, and ecocentric attitude towards tourism influence residents' perceptions of tourism's impacts. A higher economic dependence on tourism and higher levels of community attachment led to more favorable perceptions of tourism's economic and social impacts. The economic impacts, in turn, resulted in a willingness to pay higher taxes, irrespective of the type of tourism development proposed by the Las Vegas authorities. The results suggest that rural communities reinforce a hegemonic social representation of tourism in order to characterize the ethos of capitalist urbanism that pervades the economic development discourse. The residents' social construction of tourism has important implications for tourism planners in the region and suggests the adoption of an inclusive tourism diversification strategy that leverages both gaming and alternative tourism.This work was supported by the Southern Nevada Planning Coalition, Outside Las Vegas Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. (Southern Nevada Planning Coalition; Outside Las Vegas Foundation; Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Using the Car in a Fragile Rural Tourist Destination: A Social Representations Perspective

The visitor experience of place is inextricably linked to our ability to travel around an area at will, yet this mobility creates many problems especially in scenic rural areas of the UK. The study presented here attempts to unravel visitors’ experiences of mobility using Moscovici’s social representations approach. Travel diaries were employed to explore visitors’ transport choices and mobility patterns during the peak season in Purbeck, Dorset, UK. Analysis focuses on how such patterns reflect a social representation of mobility and the implications this has for visitor travel at destinations

Formalising social representation to explain psychiatric symptoms

Recent work in social cognition has moved beyond a focus on how people process social rewards to examine how healthy people represent other agents and how this is altered in psychiatric disorders. However, formal modelling of social representation has not kept pace with these changes, impeding our understanding of how core aspects of social cognition function, and fail, in psychopathology. Here, we suggest that belief-based computational models provide a basis for an integrated sociocognitive approach to psychiatry, with the potential to address important but unexamined pathologies of social representation, such as maladaptive schemas and illusory social agents

SOCIAL REPRESENTATION OF DEATH FOR NURSING STUDENTS

Objetivo: identificar a estrutura das representações sociais da morte para estudantes de enfermagem.Método: pesquisa descritiva, fundamentada pela Teoria do Núcleo Central. Utilizou-se a Associação Livre de Palavras com 91 estudantes de enfermagem do último ano de graduação, entre abril e junho de 2019, em uma universidade pública do estado do Rio de Janeiro. Os dados foram processados pelo software EVOC, que gerou um quadro com quatro quadrantes, onde se pode localizar o provável núcleo central e sistema periférico.Resultados: o núcleo central foi integrado pelos elementos fim, triste e dor, na primeira periferia saudade e na segunda descanso, perda, sofrer, eternidade, vida, angústia e choro. A zona de contraste foi constituída por medo e ciclo.Conclusão: esta representação reforça a necessidade da inserção da temática nos cursos de saúde e da criação de espaços que propiciem a reflexão e escuta, ajudando os alunos a melhor elaborar as perdas.Objective: to identify the structure of the social representations of death for Nursing students.Method: descriptive research, based on the Central Nucleus Theory. Free Word Association wasused with 91 Nursing students from the last year of the undergraduation course, between Apriland June 2019, at a public university in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The data was processed by theEVOC software, which generated a chart with four quadrants, where the probable central nucleusand peripheral system can be located.Results: the central nucleus was integrated by the elements end, sad and pain; in the first periphery,longing; and, in the second, rest, loss, suffering, eternity, life, anguish and crying. The contrast zonewas constituted by fear and cycle.Conclusion: this representation reinforces the need to insert the theme in the health courses and tocreate spaces that propitiate reflection and listening, helping the students to better elaborate thelosses.Objetivo: identificar la estructura de las representaciones sociales de la muerte para estudiantes de Enfermería. Método: investigación descriptiva, fundamentada en la Teoría del Núcleo Central. Se utilizó la Asociación Libre de Palabras con 91 estudiantes del último año de la carrera de grado de Enfermería, entre abril y junio de 2019, en una universidad pública del estado de Rio de Janeiro. Los datos se procesaron en el software EVOC, que generó un cuadro con cuatro cuadrantes, donde se pueden localizar el probable núcleo central y el sistema periférico. Resultados: el núcleo central quedó integrado por los elementos fin, triste y dolor; en la primera periferia, nostalgia; y en la segunda, descanso, pérdida, sufrir, eternidad, vida, angustia y llanto. La zona de contraste quedó constituida por miedo y ciclo. Conclusión: esta representación refuerza la necesidad de incorporar la temática a las carreras universitarias de salud y de crear espacios que propicien la reflexión y y la escucha, ayudando así a que los alumnos elaboren mejor las pérdidas

Studying the emergence of a new social representation: Changes in thinking about nanotechnologies in early 21st-century Italy

We investigated the emergence of a new social representation (SR) of a techno\u2010scientific innovation\u2014nanotechnologies\u2014among the Italian public. We reviewed how nanotechnologies entered parliamentary debates and the media agenda in the early third millennium. We conducted cross\u2010sectional surveys in 2006 (N = 246) and 2011 (N = 486) to examine the emerging SR of nanotechnologies. We sought to observe processes of anchoring and objectification \u2018in action\u2019, by analyzing roles of (i) social groups, and (ii) neighboring SRs of science and of technology, over time. Several changes from 2006 to 2011 were identified: From a \u2018descriptive\u2019 to an \u2018evaluative\u2019 approach; from a \u2018neutral\u2019 to a \u2018controversial\u2019 issue; from a \u2018concrete\u2019 to an \u2018abstract\u2019 object; and from a \u2018technological\u2019 to a \u2018scientific\u2019 phenomenon. We conclude that nanotechnologies finally became \u2018relevant enough\u2019 by 2011 to be considered a proper object of SR, and an emerging SR can be observed

Social Representation of City in Rural Poor Communities

Indonesia is a developing country which has focused on development. The development and acceleration of economic growth that occurred in Indonesia has not been evenly distributed in every province. This gives rise to a phenomenon of population movement (migration) occurring in rural communities who migrate to urban areas which eventually give rise to a phenomenon of urban poverty. The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of poor communities urban areas and to identify social representations about the city in poor communities in urban areas. The characteristics of poor communities are generally aged between under 25 to more than 54 years old, the majority of respondents are women, and generally work in the informal sector. The level of education of respondents are elementary school level (SD) or equivalent to high school level (high school) or equivalent. The income that can be obtained by poor communities were Rp. 100.000.00 up to Rp.1.500.000.00 per month. Overall poor communities did rural-urban migration between 1970 until 2010. The reason was to find a job, looking for experience, come to join her parents and husband, and generally they spent a time in a location was between 1 to 30 years. The frequency of returning home is zero to more than 4 times in the past year. Most of them do not choose the location as the first residence in the city. There are 4 kinds of type of social representations about the city and the poor. The dominant type of social representations about city is type a place to earn money. Beside that, the dominant type of social representations about the poor is underprivileged person