Représentations sociales de
la COVID-19 dans dix pays du monde : le discours public à plusieurs voix
des experts, des leaders politiques et des institutions à travers différents
médias
Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome, IT
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Affiliation: University of Salento, IT
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Affiliation: University of the Basque Country, ES
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Affiliation: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, RO
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Affiliation: University of Malta, MT
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Affiliation: University of Ottawa, CA
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Affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, BR
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Affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, BR
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Affiliation: Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, BR
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Affiliation: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, MX
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Affiliation: University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, AR
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Affiliation: Indonesian Center of Social Representations Studies, Jakarta, ID
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Affiliation: University of Pretoria, ZA
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Affiliation: University of Johannesburg, ZA
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Chapter from the book: Premat, C et al. 2024. Comparing the place of experts during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The role of expert, institutional and media communication in the pandemic emergency is crucial, since it contributes to spread collective interpretations of the crisis that drive community responses. Based on social representations theory approach, and specifically relying on the notions of collective symbolic coping and polemical social representations, the study presents 10 country-based case studies of public communication with the aim of exploring the social representations of COVID-19 during the first wave of the outbreak. Multiple communication sources from ten countries in five geo-cultural contexts (Europe, North America, Latino America, Asia, Africa) were selected and analysed: institutional websites; international/national/local newspapers and news channels; national/international press agencies; and social media platforms. Results highlighted the prevalence of multi-vocality and polemical social representations, along with outgroup blaming and stigmatisation processes, the use of military and naturalistic metaphors, antinomies, and discourse polarisation. Implications for effective public communication in crisis management are discussed.
