Exploring language as the “in-between”

Assuming a performative notion of language, this contribution addresses how language functions as a symbolic means and asks for its function for the dialogical self. In accordance with a non-individualistic notion, individuals are related to each other within and by virtue of an in-between. This in-between is called “spacetime of language”: a dynamic evolving across time, perceived as linguistic forms with their chronotopology and the positionings of the performers (self as-whom to other as-whom). With respect to the linguistic forms, the specificity of language functioning is described by Bühler’s term of displacement. The effect of displacement is to generate sharedness by inducing a movement the partners follow, going beyond their actual, sensitive contact. Symbolic displacement, expanding Bühler’s notion, is particularly interesting with regard to the dialogical self: it permits the social construction of several perspectives on self, other, and reality—positions and voices informing the self’s performances

How social representations of attitudes have informed attitude theories: the consensual and the reified

In this paper I discuss the importance of examining the impact of our common-sense making on the development of academic psychological constructs. In the process, I shall review the history of social psychology in understanding differences and similarities in the ways in which attitudes and social representations have been theorized. After a concise review of each of these two concepts, I examine the points of connection and tension between them, with particular reference to the dialectic of the social and the psychological. This highlights the influence of dominant constructions of the individual within the discipline of social psychology itself and on recent research in attitude theory in particular. The paper discusses how social psychologists have used, have been constrained by, and have developed particular social representations of the individual and of ‘attitudes’ themselves in the reified realm of academic psychology. By way of a conclusion, the example of racism is drawn on to reveal the conceptual and political consequences of theorizing either racist attitudes or racializing representations

Theory and Method for the Analysis of Social Representations

none5Since its early conceptualization, the Social Representations Theory (SRT) has illuminated the mechanisms through which the media communication contributes in shaping the social thinking and transforming the varied objects of knowledge that characterize the flowing of everyday life into familiar ideas and concepts. The present chapter intends to enlarge the comprehension of the role of the media in the genesis, diffusion, and transformation of the social representations of compound issues that are relevant in the social arena. Precisely, it aims to shed light on the dynamic structures that connect the representational forms produced by the media discourses so as generating coherent and meaningful patterns of thoughts and cognitions. This main aim is pursued at a twofold level, both theories and methods. With concern to the former level, a theoretical bridge connects the notion of social representations and the concept of symbolic universes. Precisely, social representations are described as concrete “instantiations” of the abstract and generalized symbolic universes while the media discourses are presented as (one of) the communicative contexts into which important issues are represented in recursive patterns of meaning-making, e.g. social representations. At the same time, we contribute to the literature on the methodology to study social representations applying a combination of text mining techniques and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to bridge textual and survey data.noneRochira, Alessia; Salvatore, Sergio; Veltri, Giuseppe A.; Redd, Rozlyn R.; Lancia, FrancoRochira, Alessia; Salvatore, Sergio; Veltri, Giuseppe A.; Redd, Rozlyn R.; Lancia, Franc

Mise en place d'un programme de prévention et de prise en charge du diabète en Suisse: le point de vue des patients et des professionnels de la santé [Implementation of a diabetes disease management program in Switzerland: patients' and healthcare professionals' point of view].

BACKGROUND: A reorganization of healthcare systems is required to meet the challenge of the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, e.g. diabetes. In North-America and Europe, several countries have thus developed national or regional chronic disease management programs. In Switzerland, such initiatives have only emerged recently. In 2010, the canton of Vaud set up the "Diabetes Cantonal Program", within the framework of which we conducted a study designed to ascertain the opinions of both diabetic patients and healthcare professionals on the elements that could be integrated into this program, the barriers and facilitators to its development, and the incentives that could motivate these actors to participate. METHODS: We organized eight focus-groups: one with diabetic patients and one with healthcare professionals in the four sanitary areas of the canton of Vaud. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and submitted to a thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Patients and healthcare professionals were rather in favour of the implementation of a cantonal program, although patients were more cautious concerning its necessity. All participants envisioned a set of elements that could be integrated to this program. They also considered that the program could be developed more easily if it were adapted to patients' and professionals' needs and if it used existing structures and professionals. The difficulty to motivate both patients and professionals to participate was mentioned as a barrier to the development of this program however. Quality or financial incentives could therefore be created to overcome this potential problem. CONCLUSION: The identification of the elements to consider, barriers, facilitators and incentives to participate to a chronic disease management program, obtained by exploring the opinions of patients and healthcare professionals, should favour its further development and implementation

Identidade feminina: um conceito complexo

O objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar os significados que compõem o conceito complexo identidade feminina. Quatorze mulheres de 44-74 anos, atendidas num programa de alfabetização de adultos, fizeram parte de discussões em grupo sobre ser mulher, nas quais dados orais, escritos e imagéticos (fotografia) foram coletados, durante treze sessões semanais de uma hora e meia, em média. Os dados foram transcritos na íntegra e submetidos a uma análise temática dialógica. Os resultados explorados neste artigo estão relacionados ao papel social da mulher. Cada papel social foi analisado, considerando-se três grupos temáticos: atividade do papel, seus modos de execução e suas conseqüências. As mulheres estudadas apresentaram identificações múltiplas: mãe/avó, filha, esposa, dona de casa, mulher-trabalhadora 1 (remunerada) e mulher-trabalhadora 2 (dona-de-casa), merecendo destaque o par de papéis sociais mãe-esposa, que definiram outros aspectos sobre o ser mulher