Ideal and real in the representation of politics

Summarizes research by A. Quadrio et al (1988) and P. Catellani (1990) on the social construction of knowledge. Quadrio et al explored the representation field of politics, indicating the variety of its contents and their organization in complex meaning structures, using 4 groups varying in degree of political participation. Ss' spontaneous discourses show a tendency to set politics against the politician, seen as 2 facets of the same phenomenon: the ideal and the real. Catellani studied how the concepts of "politics" and "politician" were perceived by 2 groups (militants and nonmilitants) and how the features that characterized the concepts were organized hierarchically. Reference standards used by Ss in defining the concepts suggest a contrast between ideality of politics and reality of the politician. Both studies show that a sociocultural variable such as active militancy can influence the representation of politics. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)