Theory and method of social representationsOriginally published in Asian journal of social psychology, 2 (1). Pp. 95-125

The concept of ‘community participation’ plays a central role in policies and interventions seeking to reduce health inequalities. This paper seeks to contribute to debates about the role of participation in health by suggesting how social psychological concepts can add to the theorisation of participation. It criticises traditional concepts of development and introduces some of the challenged that are present for development and community theorists in conditions of rapid globalisation. The paper proceeds to demarcate the space which a social psychology of participation occupies within the terrain of existing research into the health‐society interface. The concepts of empowerment and social capital are identified as important starting points to address the relative lack of social psychological attention to community‐level determinants of health. It is suggested that social identities, social representations and power are crucial elements for constructing a social psychology of participation. The paper concludes by highlighting the vital link that should exist between the development of theory and practical interventions. Paulo Freire's notion of conscientisation is a guiding notion throughout the paper. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Narrative interviewing

Up to 800 MILF fighters attack SAF says probers. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/675432/up-to-800milf-fighters-attacked-saf-say-probers Maoz, I., & McCauley, C. (2005). Psychological correlates of support for compromise: A polling study of Jewish-Israeli attitudes toward solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

No abstract

In Psychoanalysis, its image and its public (PIP) Moscovici introduced the theory of social representations and took further the project of rehabilitating common sense. In this paper I examine this project through a consideration of the problem of cognitive polyphasia, and the continuity and discontinuity between different systems of knowing. Focusing on the relations between science and common sense. I ask why, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, the scientific imagination tends to deny its relation to common sense and believe that can displace it. I argue that the psychosocial dynamic between common sense and science is revealing of how heavily they are entangled in, and indeed indebted to each other. Even more, this dynamic allows for a full appreciation of what the theory of social representations calls states of cognitive polyphasia. Different systems of thinking and knowing do not displace each other but live side by side, co-existing in a variety of ways, fulfilling different functions and answering different needs in social life.

This paper reports results from a qualitative study on social representations of health and illness among the Chinese community in England. It is assumed that representations of health and illness are grounded in cultural frameworks and are constructed through communication, social interaction and the practices of daily life. Our ®ndings show that in spite of dierences related to age and degrees of acculturation, Chinese people in England share a common representational system with respect to health and illness. This system is based on the traditional notions of``balance'' and``harmony'' between the interdependent forces of Yin and Yang. Health results from balance, whereas illness is brought about by disequilibrium. It is through these traditional Chinese concepts that Western biomedical knowledge is incorporated, producing a mixed representational ®eld where Chinese and Western knowledge co-exist. This representational ®eld is transmitted through the most fundamental dimensions of culture: food, language and kinship relations. We conclude by showing that social representations of health and illness are inseparable from the struggles over identity experienced by the Chinese people in England.Contract/grant sponsor: Health Education Authority. are grounded in cultural frameworks helps to understand how people use, make sense of, and comply with health care. Besides, the co-existence of dierent cultural backgrounds, dierent ways of life and dierent traditions within single contexts has been acutely intensi®ed by the transformations brought about by conditions of late modernity. People, perhaps more than ever before, must face the displacement of taken-for-granted beliefs and open up to other ways of life.These issues place new demands on health intervention related to ethnic groups. Sensitivity to such a context is one of the great challenges confronting health education programmes. Since the Thirtieth World Health Assembly in 1977, the World Health Organization has ocially recognized the importance of integrating traditional medicines into health care systems. This policy change was based on the understanding that the traditional medical knowledge which permeates lay thinking can work as an added resource for health care delivery (World Health Organization, 1978). Culture and traditional knowledge shape how people think, feel, perceive and socially represent questions of health and illness. This is not a trivial issue, considering that it is in the lay, popular, non-professional sector of society that the vast majority of healthrelated decisions are made. It is estimated that between 70% and 90% of all healthrelated decisions are made outside the formal health sector, mainly in the family, but also around social networks and community activities. This is the case in both Western and non-Western societies (Kleinman, 1986). In the course of everyday life, social actors recognize, de®ne, label and explain ill-health. On this basis, health care activities are initiated. These include all the therapeutic options that ...

Health and identity : the case of the Chinese community in EnglandOriginally published in Social science information, 37 (4