Social Representations, Alternative Representations and Semantic Barriers Running Head: Alternative Representations and Semantic Barriers Social Representations: a Shared Context for Communication

2 Social representations, alternative representations and semantic barriers Social representations research has tended to focus upon the representations that groups have in relation to some object. The present article elaborates the concept of social representations by pointing to the existence of " alternative representations " as sub-components within social representations. Alternative representations are the ideas and images the group has about how other groups represent the given object. Alternative representations are thus representations of other people " s representations. The present article uses data from Moscovici " s (1974/2008) analysis of the diffusion of psychoanalysis to examine how people engage with alternative representations. It is demonstrated that there can be more or less dialogical relations with alternative representations. The analysis concludes by considering seven " semiotic barriers " which work to neutralise the dialogical potential of alternative representations, thus on the one hand enabling groups to talk about the views of others, while, on the other hand, remaining unchallenged by those views. 3 Social representations, alternative representations and semantic barriers In Psychoanalysis: Its Image and Its Public Moscovici (1974/2008) introduces the concept of social representation by discussing the heterogeneous nature of modern society. Durkheim (1898) had used the concept of collective representations to study hegemonic and homogenous representations, such as myth and religion, in traditional societies. The interesting point about Durkhim " s concept of collective representations, which Mosciovici (p. 3) highlights is the " mixed " position of this concept between psychology and sociology. On the one hand collective representations are produced by societies, yet, on the other hand, they are part of individual psychological functioning to the extent of structuring the minutiae of perception. For example, a person fully socialised in a religion perceives the world through the lens of that religion: events can become the visible manifestations of the will of the given god. The concept of collective representations raises, for social psychology, a profound question: Exactly what is the relation between society in general, or social relations in particular, and psychological function? This question is central to Psychoanalysis and the present article. Moscovici (2008) makes a case for revitalising the concept of collective representations, but under the new name of " social representations. " The reason for the shift of terminology is because the state of knowledge in late modernity is more pluralistic and fragmented than theorised by Durkheim. Moscovici (2008, p. 5) describes myth, or …