Abstract

 

J. Valsiner (2003).
Beyond Social Representations: A Theory of Enablement.
Papers on Social Representations, 12, pages 7.1-7.16
[http://www.psr.jku.at/]

 

Social representations are simultaneously re-presentations (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.