Social Representations

Serge Moscovici first introduced the concept of social
representations into contemporary social psychology nearly forty
years ago. Since then the theory has become one of the predominant
approaches in social psychology, not only in continental Europe,
but increasingly in the Anglo-Saxon world as well. While
Moscovici's work has spread broadly across the discipline, notably
through his contributions to the study of minority influences and
of the psychology of crowds, the study of social representations
has continued to provide the central focus for one of the most
distinctive and original voices in social psychology today.

This volume brings together some of Moscovici's classic
statements of the theory of social representations, as well as
elaborations of the distinctive features of this perspective in
social psychology. In addition the book includes some recent essays
in which he re-examines the intellectual history of social
representations, exploring the diverse ways in which this theory
has responded to a tradition of thought in the social sciences
which encompasses not only the contributions of Durkheim and
Piaget, but also those of Lévy-Bruhl and Vygotsky. The final
chapter of the book consists of a long interview with Ivana
Marková, in which Moscovici not only reviews his own
intellectual itinerary but also gives his views on some of the key
questions facing social psychology today.

The publication of this volume provides an essential source for
the study of social representations and for an assessment of the
work of a social psychologist who has consistently sought to
re-establish the discipline as a vital element of the social
sciences.