Social representations as objects of knowledge: New horizons for Piagetian constructivism

Jean Piaget developed his constructivist theory from an epistemological and psychological perspective to understand the development of logical-mathematical knowledge. Aiming to extend the research program inherited from his thought, this work delineates the various types of objects in the social domain that have been investigated from this perspective in recent decades, with a focus on analyzing social representations as objects of knowledge. Based on available evidence, we argue that studying the psychogenesis of some abstract social objects is, in most cases, equivalent to studying the ontogenesis process of social representations. Then we delimit the characteristic features of both the object of knowledge and the psychosocial subject, as well as the constructive interaction between them. In this vein, we provide reasons and evidence supporting the potential of dialectical inferential processes to explain the reconstruction of collective meanings awaiting appropriation by individuals within their culture. Finally, we emphasize that in this ontogenetic process, the subject’s constructive activity is directed towards the social representations available within their social group. Hence, the Piagetian thesis on critical realism does not allow us to interpret this ontogenetic process, as the validity of a social representation does not depend on its degree of proximity to the real object but only on social consensus.