Social Representation in a Saussurian Dynamic Perspective

Abstract

This paper highlights the Swiss linguistic Ferdinand de Saussure’s explanation of the contradictory mixture of changes and stability, which is a salient trait of language. As long as this is what characterizes social representations as well, there are some fundamental similarities between Ferdinand de Saussure and Serge Moscovici. This paper points out in what sense, but also how they are different. Yet the fundamental question about uniting stability with changes is a core issue in cultural psychology. By pointing at the historical connections between Wundt and de Saussure, the conclusion is that social representations can achieve a deeper understanding by means of semiology and folk psychology, and find its basis in cultural psychology.