EuroSkyCompass: Nation, Europe, world, social representations systems in action and construction
EuroSkyCompass: Nation, Europe, world, social representations systems in action and construction

Summary/Abstract: The cross-national research program EuroSkyCompass was initiated in 2002 and involves a group of 23 participants engaged in collecting data in 10 countries, both members and non-members of the European Union. On the theoretical level, the study finds its inspiration in the Social Representations Theory (Moscovici, 1961, 1976, 2000) and other psychosocial constructs such as Social Identity (Tajfel, 1978) and Social Memory. In continuity with a previous research program conducted between 1993 and 1996 in 10 European Union countries (de Rosa, 1996), the EuroSkyCompass project departs from two assumptions: a) identity as a multi-dimensional construct; b) the relativity and conventional character of geographical parameters. Its goal is to analyze how identity, understood as a multi-dimensional construct (de Rosa, Mormino, 2000) and variably anchored sometimes to the sense of belonging to the Nation and sometimes to the supra-national dimension of the European Union, is expressed via social representations of geo-political entities (nation, Europe, world) formulated as a system of interrelated representations in relation to the geographical and geo-political parameters of North-South-East-West. To collect the data, a questionnaire was created ad hoc that integrates structural tools (closed questions and behavior scales) and tools of a projective nature (text and graphic) such as the EuropeanSkyCompass, the silent map of Europe and associative networks (de Rosa, 1995, 2002). Consistent with a multi- -method and multi-step approach, the data analysis provides for the use of various techniques to provide cross-analysis for results obtained. At this opportunity, we will present, in particular, results concerning the associative networks both in terms attitudinal measures, such as the Polarity Index, and the content and structure of the social representation, analyzed using the Analysis of Lexical Correspondences (ACL). These results will be accompanied by those obtained from the Factorial Analysis (ACP) conducted on the data collected with a behavior scale in respect to various European states.

• Details
• Contents