The symbolic structures of social life: integrative comments on the socialthinking architecture / As estruturas simbólicas da vida social: comentários integrativos sobre a arquitetura do pensamento social

The present paper is an essay that aims at contributing to the debate on the social thinking architecture, a theoretical hierarchical model originally proposed by Rouquette that establishes relations between various symbolic formations. Other than addressing the main characteristics of social thinking and the architecture, a broad review of the role of its classical constructs is presented, i.e. social representations, ideologies, attitudes, thêmata and opinions. A discussion about other constructs such as nexus, social images and collective representations and their position in the architecture is also provided.

O presente artigo é um ensaio que visa a contribuir para o debate sobre a arquitetura do pensamento social, um modelo teórico hierárquico proposto originalmente por Rouquette que estabelece relações entre diversas formações simbólicas. Além de tratar das principais características do pensamento social e da arquitetura, uma revisão ampla do papel de seusconstrutos clássicos é apresentada, isto é, representações sociais, ideologias, atitudes, thêmata e opiniões. Uma discussão sobre outros construtos como nexus, imagens sociais e representações coletivas e suas posições na arquitetura também é fornecida.

Michel-Louis Rouquette et le modèle de l'architecture de la pensée sociale / Michel-Louis Rouquette and the social thinking architecture model

Si la psychologie sociale a bien permis une chose, c’est de reconnaître que l’individu humain n’est décidemment pas, du moins spontanément, ® rationnel ¼. Tout donne à penser que si les gens ne se conforment pas à la norme scientifique dans leurs raisonnements quotidiens, cen’est pas toujours qu’ils en sont incapables, mais plutôt parce que des ® préférences ¼ les conduisent à raisonner autrement. Dès 1973, Michel-Louis Rouquette propose la notion de®pensée sociale ¼ considérant que la pensée quotidienne, celle qui s’exprime dans les conversations de tous les jours, dans la transmission des rumeurs, la narration des souvenirs, ou les passions des foules, ne possède finalement aucune des spécificités et des contraintes de la pensée scientifique à laquelle on puisse la comparer mais qu’elle en a d’autres. Qu’elle possède,autrement dit, une cohérence et une logique propres qu’il revient à la psychologie sociale de comprendre et de restituer. Après l’exposition de l’architecture de la pensée sociale, les principes de régulation de ce type de pensée seront présentés à travers plusieurs illustrations empiriques.

If social psychology has made one thing possible, it was the possibility ofacknowledging that the human being is definitely not, at least spontaneously, “rational”. All leads to think that while people do not conform to the scientific norm in their everyday reasoning, it isnot always because they are incapable of doing so, but rather because some “preferences” make them think differently. From 1973, Michel-Louis Rouquette proposes the notion of “socialthinking” considering that everyday thinking, which is expressed in casual conversation, in the transmission of rumors, in the reporting of memories, or in the passion of crowds, does notpossess any of the specificities and constraints of scientific thinking that we might compare it to, but does have others. In other words, it has its own coherence and logic that must be understood and retrieved by social psychology. After the presentation of the social thinking architecture, theregulation principles of such kind of thinking are exposed through various empirical illustrations.