| Serge Moscovici |
Article Index for Serge |
Website Links For Serge |
Information AboutSerge Moscovici |
|
BIOGRAPHY Moscovici was born in , 2007 ) In later years, he commented on the impact of the Iron Guard, and expressed criticism for Intellectual s associated with it ( Emil Cioran and Mircea Eliade ). Moscovici trained as a Mechanic at the Bucharest Vocational School ''Ciocanul''. Faced with an ideological choice between Zionism and Communism , he opted for the latter, and, in 1939, joined the then-illegal Communist Party Of Romania , being introduced by a clandestine activist whom he knew by the pseudonym ''Kappa''. During World War II , Moscovici witnessed the Iron Guard -instigated Bucharest Pogrom in January 1941, and was later interned by the Ion Antonescu regime in a Forced Labor Camp , where, together with other persons of his age, he worked on construction teams until being set free by the Soviet Red Army in 1944. During those years, he taught himself French and educated himself by reading philosophical works (including those of Baruch Spinoza and René Descartes ). Subsequently, Moscovici traveled extensively, notably visiting Palestine , Germany and Austria . During the late stage of World War II he met Isidore Isou , the founder of Lettrism , with whom he founded the artistic and literary review ''Da'' towards the end of 1944 (''Da'' was quickly Censored ). Refusing promotion on the basis of political affiliation at a time when the Communist Party participated in Romania's governments, he became instead a Welder in the large Bucharest factory owned by Nicolae Malaxa . Initially welcoming , 2007 ) As the Communist Regime was taking over and the Cold War erupted, he helped Zionist dissidents cross the border illegally. For this, he was implaced in a 1947 trial held in Timişoara , and decided to leave Romania for good. Choosing clandestine immigration, he arrived in France a year later, passing through Hungary and Austria, and spending time in a Refugee Camp in Italy . In ». {Link without Title} On the other, the Romanian exiles, most of all the Nationalist students, when not outright on the Far Right , who did not shy away from denouncing us as communist « Moles » in the pay of Bucharest or Moscow ." Moscovici's 1961 thesis (''La psychanalyse, son image, son public''), directed by the Psychoanalyst Daniel Lagache , explored the Social Representations of psychoanalysis in France. Moscovici also studied Epistemology and History Of Science s with philosopher Alexandre Koyré . During the 1960s, he was invited to the United States by the Princeton University 's '' Institute For Advanced Studies ''; he also worked at Stanford University and Yale , before returning to Paris to teach at the '' École Pratique Des Hautes études ''. Serge Moscovici has been a visiting professor at the The New School in New York City , at the Rousseau Institute in Geneva , as well as at the '' Université Catholique De Louvain '' and the University Of Cambridge . By 1968, together with Brice Lalonde and others, he became involved in Green Politics , and even ran in elections for the office of Mayor Of Paris for what later became '' Les Verts ''. A Doctor Honoris Causa of several universities, Moscovici was the recipient of the Balzan Prize in 2003. In 1997, Serge Moscovici authored an Autobiographical essay titled ''Chronique des années égarées'' ("Chronicle of the Mislaid Years"). It was translated into Romanian as ''Cronica anilor risipiţi'' (published by Polirom in 1999). RESEARCH His research focus was on Group Psychology and he began his career by investigating the way knowledge is reformulated as groups take hold of it, distorting it from its original form. His theory of ''social representations'' is now widespread in understanding this process of cultural '' Chinese Whispers ''. Influenced by Gabriel Tarde , he later criticized American research into majority influence ( Conformity ) and instead investigated the effects of minority influence, where the opinions of a small group influence those of a larger one. He also researched the dynamics of group decisions and consensus-forming. Minority influence Moscovici claimed that majority influence in many ways was misleading – if the majority was indeed all-powerful, we would all end up thinking the same. Drawing attention to the works of Gabriel Tarde , he pointed to the fact that most major social movements have been started by individuals and small groups (e.g. Christianity , Buddhism , the Suffragette movement, Nazism , etc) and that without an outspoken minority, we would have no innovation or social change. The study he is most famous for, ''Influences of a consistent minority on the responses of a majority in a colour perception task'', is now seen as one of the defining investigations into the effects of minority influence:
WORKS
SEE ALSO REFERENCES FURTHER READING
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|