Representational Naturalization as a Process: How Do Representational Objects Become Social Reality?
Representational Naturalization as a Process: How Do Representational Objects Become Social Reality?

Summary/Abstract: This article examines social problems as representational objects that have been constructed through a complex process of collectively defining a situation (Blumer, 1971). Social transformations orient the communications in society toward social problems by contributing to there presentational genesis of social objects, more specifically through objectification. We argue that the study of objectification allows us to understand the process by which social reality is constructed, especially through the naturalization of social representations. In this article, we present our theoretical approach of representational naturalization, based on our study of drug addiction, workaholism and COVID‑19. We first set out the role of representational naturalization in the construction of social reality. We then explain the four phases of this process: 1) recognition; 2) elimination of contradictions; 3) instrumental use; and 4) validation by experience. These theoretical advances will make it possible to study representational genesis as a modality of the emergence of the social world.

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