Social Signification And Social Representations

Keywords: semiosis, social signification, communication, social psychology

This commentary briefly explores the importance of discussing the concept of social

signification with a semiotic approach and discusses the interesting contribution of Valsiner

contained in this special issue. In particular, the issues of personal semiosis, hierarchical

structures among signs and the time-dependent nature of signification are very promising.

Future directions of theoretical interest are also sketched.

Guiseppe Veltri, University of East Anglia, UK

GIUSEPPE VELTRI holds a BA in Psychology of Communication from the University of Siena,

an MSc in Social Research Methods from the Methodology Institute of the London School of

Economics (LSE) and a PhD in Social Psychology from the LSE. He has been a scientific fellow

at the European Commission JRC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). Before

joining the IPTS, he has been a research associate at the Institut Jean Nicod (Ecole Normale

Supérieure) in Paris. His research interests focus on public opinion research and new media,

social representations, behavioral economics and social psychology of economic life, social

networks and public understanding of science.