On Structuring and Outlining Processes in the Study of Social Representations

Abstract

The paradigm proposed by Moscovici describes three steps to the objectification process:

selection/outlining/naturalization. An analogy is often made between the “core nucleus” from the

structural model and the “illustrative nucleus” that results from outlining in Moscovici’s model.

Many authors have developed the notion of outlining. Drawing on these contributions, we offer to

demonstrate how the structural approach to social representations puts cognitive processes of

outlining in a collectivist perspective.