SYMBOLS AND SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS

Socially shared symbols play an important role in human life. In concr ete, condensed and vivid ways, they express core values, beliefs and i deals and thereby function within the context of group relations. The present paper analyses how and why social symbols are powerful for mob ilisation of public support, using material collected during the Gulf- Crisis in 1991. It is argued that social symbols can be conceptualised as social representations. This conceptualisation provides a fruitful framework for studying the nature and functions of social symbols. Ho wever, it is suggested that the study of symbols may also contribute t o the development of the theory of social representations. Following B illig (1993), it is shown, first, that transcendentalisation as a coun ter-process of objectification is crucial for understanding social sym bolism. Second, it is shown how symbols function within an argumentati ve context suggesting that the study of argumentation can be an import ant component of the study of social representations.