Social Representations Theory: a Dialogical Approach to the Ecological Crisis

Abstract

This article seeks to illustrate why and how social representations theory (SRT) based in its

dialogical epistemology can be used as a critical approach to analyse the ecological crisis. We

first present the shortcomings of some models used in social psychology – that they are rather

individual and cognitivist, discrediting common sense knowledge, adopting a nature/culture

dualist approach. To overcome those limitations, we then draw some parallels between the

concept of the “human history of nature” (Moscovici, 1968) and SRT by referring to the wind

rose model (Bauer & Gaskell, 2008) and by outlining the dialogical epistemology underpinning

Moscovici’s work. This epistemological turn offers theoretical advances in order to study the

ecological crisis and call for methods operationalising dialogicality. By referring to a previous

study, that compared social representations in France and Germany, we illustrate how a

comparative research design can endorse the different assumptions of the wind rose model and

support a dialogical approach of the ecological crisis. Our results suggest that the ecological crisis

refers to different competitive realities in France and in Germany and that these representations

serve identity stakes in the French/German relationship. Finally, we discuss how the ecological

crisis can challenge back theoretical developments in SRT.