Beyond Social Representations: A Theory of Enablement

Abstract

Social representations are simultaneously representations (of what already has come into being, and is recognizable on the basis of previous experience) and representations (of the expected—yet indeterminate—future experience). If viewed from this perspective, social representations are meaning complexes that play the role of macro-level cultural constraints of human conduct in its PRESENT - FUTURE transition. These constraints lead to the generation of micro-level constraints that guide particular thought, feeling, and acting processes. I propose a theory of enablement that treats all cultural tools—signs and instruments—as vehicles of coping with the uncertainty of the immediate future. Signification in the present is meant for the making of the future, rather than taking stock of the present (and past). Human beings create semiotic mediators that set the range and direction for further expectation of to-be-lived-through experience. The resulting meaningfully bounded indeterminacy allows the person to transcend the here-and-now setting through intra-psychological distancing.