The Shock of the New: A Psycho‐dynamic Extension of Social Representational Theory

This paper draws on (a) psyche-dynamic theory (b) social identity theory and (c) cultural theory in order to explain the pattern of people's social representations of crises ranging from AIDS to mental illness, from environmental and economic disaster to political turmoil. The focus is upon the processes whereby representations of large-scale crises link them to 'the other'. Making the link to 'the other' allays the sense of threat or 'shock' experienced by the individual. The paper shows that the way in which 'self' is protected against anxiety develops in infancy. Yet group identities, as well as historical anchors and contemporary cultural currents interact with early mental operations in the contents of the representations which calm the 'self' by indicating 'the other' when crises occur. The paper evaluates whether psyche-dynamic concepts, which have been derived clinically, can be transposed to the social scientific setting, as well as whether humans are able to represent large-scale crises without resorting to representations of a decorous 'us' versus an immoral 'them'. It resolves both issues in the affirmative.