The implications of dialogicality for ‘giving voice’ in social representations research

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8975596
AutoresZadeh (0000-0001-7215-1607, University of Cambridge, autor correspondente), Sophie Zadeh (Centre for Family Research University of Cambridge Cambridge CB2 3RQ UK)
Ano2017
Volume47
Fascículo3
Páginas263-278
Data de publicação2017-02-23
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jtsb.12136
OpenAlexW2590100390
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas48

Social representations research is often undertaken by scholars who seek to ‘give voice’ to knowledge(s) that are held by socially disenfranchised individuals and groups. However, this endeavour poses a number of problems in practice, not least because it assumes that the ‘voices’ voiced by individuals and/or groups in social research will be unambiguous and uniform, and unchanged by the research encounter. Despite the growth of attention to the critical potential of social representations theory, there remains a lack of scholarship on the relationship between the theory's emphasis on the relational, or dialogical, nature of social life (the Ego‐Alter‐Object relation) and the implications of this for critical research. In this article, I argue that the dialogical epistemology from which social representations research must depart incites reflection upon (i) the design of empirical studies, which must equally attend to both ‘Ego’ and ‘Alter’, and (ii) the researcher‐researched relationship, which may itself be best viewed as an Ego‐Alter interaction. I make the case for adopting dialogical epistemology in critical social psychology, and argue that this is essential to undertaking ethical social research. I conclude by suggesting that claims to ‘giving voice’ have little place in critical social psychology in general, and social representations scholarship in particular

Dialogical self · Epistemology · Object (grammar · Relation (database · Scholarship · Social relation · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity