Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

understanding and explaining reality, identification, orientation of behaviours andjustification of such behaviours. In the words of Abric, “the functions of socialrepresentation are essential for the understanding of social dynamics... It is in the originof social practices from those functions that fabricate a common sense, or socialidentity, from the expectations and anticipations which is generated” (Abric, 1994). Onthe other hand, as we mentioned earlier, it is also interesting as a theory which combinesobjective social phenomena and the cognitive processes, to take into account bothsociety as a whole and the individual in particular.. To quote Verges, “in effect, itenables consideration, at a particular time of collective determinations, on the one hand,and freedom of choice and the creation of the social actor, on the other” (Verges, 1996).The group of social psychologists in Aix-en-Provence (Abric, Flament, Verges...)reached the conclusion that social representation is a double system comprising:A central system (central nucleus) “whose determination is essentially social, linked tohistorical, sociological and ideological conditions and therefore, directly associated withvalues and norms” (Abric, 1994). This nucleus is the responsible of the stability of the ofthe representation, so that it remains through time. This system changes, but very slowly.A peripheral system, that depends on individual characteristics and on the dailycircumstances.Therefore, for a complete knowledge of social representation from the point of viewof the theory of representation, which these authors are defending, one has todistinguish between the components that comprise each system.One of the sectors in which there has been a great deal of work on the theory ofsocial representation is in the field of health. One of the pioneer and landmark studieson this theory is the work by Jodelet on the social representation of insanity (Jodelet,1984). Other titles within this same field are “Réprésentations sociales et image de lapsychiatrie” by Penochet and Guimelli (1994), “La fonction d’infermiére”, also byGuimelli and which appeared, together with other studies, in “Pratiques sociales etreprésentation” (Abric, 1994) etc.At the present time, analysis of social representation is being carried out on matterswhich are important social problems and where the preventive strategies put intopractice to date, have not achieved the expected results. It involves finding anexplanation for these preventive failures and understanding these problems from theperspective of the different social groups.One of these problems is AIDS, where several studies have already been made,notably two works by Michel Morin, one in which the author endeavours to show thedifferent attitudes and behaviours of doctors dealing with Aids patients, where it isconsidered of great importance that doctors are more involved in the prevention andcare of patients (Morin et al. 1996), and a second, included in the book “The SocialChallenge of AIDS” (Basabe et al. 1996) in which, using the theory of socialrepresentation, he discusses the hypothesis of ignorance and resistance to change as anexplanation for the advance of this illness.96