IJDS 10.2.01 Boulanger & Valsiner

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 10 Number 2 Fall 2017

Introduction to the Special Issue
Linking two theories. How can the social representations theory be made dialogical?

Dany Boulanger
Aalborg University, Denmark & Catholic University of Salvador, Brazil

Jaan Valsiner
Aalborg University, Denmark

pp. 1-18

Abstract. This Special Issue is based on a symposium we organized during the 2014 meeting of the ISDS in Den Haag. The goal—looking at Moscovici’s social representation theory (SRT)—from the perspective of the dialogical self theory (DST) was (and is) an interesting task in the theoretical realm of contemporary social sciences. We felt that the two theories could enrich each other, in particular regarding their respective horizons or levels of analysis, linking, first, the “macroscopic” (SRT) and, second, the microscopic and “person-centered” (DST) levels. Through such linking of levels, we had the impression that SRT could benefit from the dynamic orientation of DST while the latter could gain a better focus in locating a person’s self-dialogues within the framework of social representations. In this Special Issue, the authors carry further their dialogues with both SRT and DST that have continued in the two years after the Den Haag Conference.

Keywords: social representation, relating theories, dialogical self, distance, vagueness

Introduction to the Special Issue Linking two theories. How can the social representations theory be made dialogical? Dany Boulanger Aalborg University, Denmark & Catholic University of Salvador, Brazil Jaan Valsiner Aalborg University, Denmark	pp. 1-18

Abstract. This Special Issue is based on a symposium we organized during the 2014 meeting of the ISDS in Den Haag. The goal—looking at Moscovici’s social representation theory (SRT)—from the perspective of the dialogical self theory (DST) was (and is) an interesting task in the theoretical realm of contemporary social sciences. We felt that the two theories could enrich each other, in particular regarding their respective horizons or levels of analysis, linking, first, the “macroscopic” (SRT) and, second, the microscopic and “person-centered” (DST) levels. Through such linking of levels, we had the impression that SRT could benefit from the dynamic orientation of DST while the latter could gain a better focus in locating a person’s self-dialogues within the framework of social representations. In this Special Issue, the authors carry further their dialogues with both SRT and DST that have continued in the two years after the Den Haag Conference. Keywords: social representation, relating theories, dialogical self, distance, vagueness