IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v13y2024i10p545-d1499123.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Representations of the War in Italy during the Russia/Ukraine Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Giannino Melotti

    (Department of Education Studies «Giovanni Maria Bertin» (EDU), University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Paola Villano

    (Department of Education Studies «Giovanni Maria Bertin» (EDU), University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Monica Pivetti

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy)

Abstract

Social representations of the war, anchored in historical experience and cultural values, play a motivational role in justifying collective behavior. Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the research delves into the meanings associated with war through a social representation approach. Employing Doise’s sociodynamic approach, researchers identify the semantic field linked with war and analyze its organizing principles, revealing the variability of representations. In total, 313 Italian participants (female = 241, 75.4%; age range = 18–74) completed a questionnaire featuring a free association task with the word “war”, providing demographic and political and religious orientation data. Lexical correspondence analysis, utilizing Spad-t software, highlights three polarized themes: the emotional dimension aroused by war, media-conveyed imagery, and the underlying causes of conflict. The social anchoring analysis projects variables such as gender and political orientation onto a factorial plane. Finally, cluster analysis dissects psychological anchoring, identifying four distinct groups characterized by their descriptions of war: effects, reasons, emotions, and images. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Giannino Melotti & Paola Villano & Monica Pivetti, 2024. "Social Representations of the War in Italy during the Russia/Ukraine Conflict," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:10:p:545-:d:1499123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/10/545/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/10/545/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de-Graft Aikins, Ama, 2012. "Familiarising the unfamiliar: cognitive polyphasia, emotions and the creation of social representations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 48049, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Walsh & Juliet Foster, 2022. "Charting an Alternative Course for Mental Health-Related Anti-Stigma Social and Behaviour Change Programmes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-21, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:10:p:545-:d:1499123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.