[fr] Bien que certains développements théoriques récents insistent davantage sur l’existence d’une pluralité de réalités individuelles au sein d’un même ensemble social, la logique de compréhension utilisée pour analyser ces réalités dans le travail de recherche empiri¬que s’inscrit encore trop souvent dans une perspec¬tive univoque où les concepts sont pensés comme homogènes. Cette façon d’aborder le réel légitime des explications linéaires du développement des attitudes et de l’adoption des comportements individuels. Toutefois, une réflexion sur les processus effectifs de construction des univers de référence individuels à partir d’une pers¬pective psychologique remet fortement en question cette logique. Ainsi, les travaux de Jean Piaget montrent bien que l’individu n’est pas un être passif dans la dynamique d’appropriation du monde, mais qu’il assi¬mile le contexte social, l’accommode à ce qu’il com¬prend déjà et ainsi le transforme. Ce cadre théorique ouvre la voie à une intéressante forme de relativisme conceptuel où chaque concept doit être replacé dans le contexte propre des univers de référence des individus. Cette relativité pose un défi à la recherche empirique : quel principe de synthèse permettrait de respecter la pluralité théorique que nous propose l’interprétation piagétienne ? Jusqu’à maintenant, nous avons surtout utilisé dans nos recherches une méthodologie fondée sur la démarche classificatoire, mais nous en sommes main¬tenant plus conscient des limites. [en] Recent developments in theory insist on the existence of a plurality of individual realities within the same social group. However, the logic of understanding used to analyse these realities in the empirical research still relies too much on a univocal perspective in which the concepts are perceived to be homogeneous. This manner of approaching reality legitimates the linear explanations of attitudes and individual behaviours. But a reflection on the effective processes of constructing the individual worlds of reference based on a psychological perspective strongly challenges this logic. Thus, the works of Jean Piaget clearly show that the individual is not a passive being in the dynamics of appropriating the world, but that he or she assimilates the social context, accommodates it to what he or she already understands and thereby transforms it. This theoretical framework opens the path to an interesting form of conceptual relativism where every concept has to be replaced into the context as it is structured by the individuals’ worlds of reference. This relativity presents a challenge to empirical research: Which principle of synthesis would allow us to respect the theoretical plurality proposed by the piagetian interpretation? So far, we have mostly used a methodology based on the classificatory approach in our research, but we are by now more aware of its limitations as well.
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences Political science, public administration & international relations
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Read more
Save & Close
Accept all
Decline all
Show detailsHide details
Cookie declaration
About cookies
Strictly necessary
Performance
Strictly necessary cookies allow core website functionality such as user login and account management. The website cannot be used properly without strictly necessary cookies.
This cookie is used by Cookie-Script.com service to remember visitor cookie consent preferences. It is necessary for Cookie-Script.com cookie banner to work properly.
Performance cookies are used to see how visitors use the website, eg. analytics cookies. Those cookies cannot be used to directly identify a certain visitor.
Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. Websites use cookies to help users navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. Cookies that are required for the website to operate properly are allowed to be set without your permission. All other cookies need to be approved before they can be set in the browser.
You can change your consent to cookie usage at any time on our Privacy Policy page.