Looking at social representations and political psychology: how snapshots in the field of inquiry may orient the discipline towards methodological polytheism

The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to explore the contribution of the social representations theory within the field of research focused on political psychology. This aim was developed by carrying three different yet coherent studies. The first one presents a general and comprehensive overview of the empirical contributions given by the theory of social representations to this field of research. Contributions were analyzed in depth using a the detailed grid for meta‐theoretical analysis developed by A.S. de Rosa and last updated in 2014, allowing for producing a mix of quantitative and qualitative data on a large corpus (N=321) of empirical researches, published in the most relevant journals dedicated to issues converging in the area of Politics, Multidimensional Identity, Social Movements and Active Minorities all over the world during a time span ranging from 1980 to 2016. Results have offered have offered an empirical evidence of a sort of “methodological polytheism” (Moscovici, 1988). The methodological geo-mapping of the literature on Social Representations and Politics shows the inclusion of all the approaches (experimental, quasi experimental, field, ethnographic and media studies), but also oppose them in the semantic factorial space. Implications for future directions of researches which advocate for the multi-level concurrent integration (rather than opposition) of the multiple constructs, paradigmatic and methodological approaches will be discussed. All in all, results of this first study show how the social representation theory, stemming from its European source, had influenced in a very innovative ways the international field of study on political psychology – both for the kind of issues taken into account, and for the original mix of methodological solutions applied to investigate them. Building of these first results, the other two studies wanted to explore how such an innovative contribution of the social representation theory could be traced also in contemporary studies on political psychology, influencing the very recent advances of it. Among them, the phenomenon of self-censorship (Bar-Tal, 2017) has been chosen as the specific issue of the second and third study. This phenomenon refers to the set of processes that are enacted at a societal level in order to intentionally and voluntary withhold information supposing to threaten the society as a whole. While in the past decades the social representations' theory proved to be particularly important to focus scholars' attention on the role of minorities to influence the majorities, when the problem of societal self-censorship is at stake the social representations' theory may offer very innovative theoretical and methodological contribution for understanding in greater depth how representations of social life could be developed, when basic information is voluntary suppressed. An interesting case study was offered by information on colonial crimes committed by the Italian Army during the colonial invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36). Studies of influential Italian scholars show that a widespread social censorship has silenced this period of the Italian past, withholding information on the serious wrongdoings committed. During the colonial invasion of the African country Italian troops used poison gas against the enemy, despite its prohibition by the Geneva Convention. Moreover, Italian repression of the Ethiopian resistance that continued after the official end of the war was particularly cruel. The most dramatic episode occurred in response to a failed assassination attempt on Governor Graziani in 1937, when some six thousand civilians—according to Western sources—were executed, among them the roughly three hundred monks of Debra Libanos. The second study, having as participants 217 young university students, show how this information on colonial crimes is still lacking in current social representations of Italian colonial past. Moreover, Study 2 shows that the social myth, covering up since recently this lack of information by an illusion on past behaviors of Italian soldiers, depicted as unable of cruelty, is now faded away from young respondents' answers. Being not based on factual information on the past, literally denied in the current social discourse, social representations of colonial past are nevertheless organized as a bricolage of information referred more in general to Fascism, avoiding to consider that Italian colonial attempts started even before this historical period and cannot be explained only as a strategy of Fascist regime to gain and secure consensus. The third study builds up on these results. We take into account that self-censorship on past information cannot extend to the relentless work of cultural objectivation: not only the work of high art, but also posters, postage stamps, costumes, customs (Assman, 1975). To this regard, our attention has been captured by images of confectionery products marketed by some Italian industries. The package of these products, presenting a smiling image of a colonized women/men, during the period of colonial wars could be easily associated with the optimistic declaration of a resurgence of an imperial period of Italian history. After the defeat of Fascism, these contents were self-censored. However, this kind of confectionery products were still sold using the same packaging. Using a quasi-experimental design between subjects, the Study 3 aimed to explore different reactions of 110 young Italian participants invited to evaluate this candy after being exposed to a story either conveying information about the association of packaging with Italian colonial times, or omitting this information. Findings of Study 3 show that the experimental manipulation produced unexpected effects on taste of the product only t(108) = 2.59, p < .05, by making the candy seem more tasty for participants exposed to the experimental condition. Results suggest therefore that making evident the unsaid link between an object easy to find in the everyday social context and its reminders of Italian colonialism is not sufficient for challenging the long-lasting literal social denial affecting Italian colonial violence. All in all, results of the three studies seem to articulate a coherent answer to the general research question inspiring this dissertation. The social representations' theory, originated by the pioneering work of Serge Moscovici, produced in time relevant and original contributions in the field of empirical research on political psychology. The theory dissemination and influence expanded all over the world, adapting cleverly its methodologies to the different needs of many important sources of communication mostly used by this scientific community. Also referring to a specific recent advance of studies on political psychology, the issue of self-censorship, the theory of social representations may offer relevant insights. Study 2 and 3 tested the theory's capability by applying it to the case of selfcensored colonial crimes committed by the Italian Army during the invasion of Ethiopia. Study 2 shows how a social representation of a difficult past of one's own group may be developed also when basic historical information on this period is lacking. Study 3 explores consequences of making young people aware that some of the objects easy to find in their everyday material world are figures of memory of this self-censored historical period. The unexpected results of this last study suggest that, when a massive self-censorship of the societal discourse keeps on avoiding to remember a past period of violence enacted by one's own group, the simple evidence of a link associating an object of everyday life with this past period, that remains however not explicitly described, may paradoxically add to the object reminding of this violence the fascinating flavor of memorabilia.