Abstract
Psychological life is subject to the influence of a constructed and potentially reconstituted past, as well as to future anticipated
outcomes and expectations. Human behaviour occurs along a temporal trajectory that marks the projects individuals adopt in
their quests of human action. Explanations of social behaviour are limited insofar as they exclude a historical concern with
human purpose. In this paper, we draw on Bartlett’s notion of collective remembering to argue that manifest social relations
are rooted in past events that give present behaviours meaning and justification. We further propose an epidemiological time-series
framework for social representations, that are conceptualised as evolving over time and that are subject to a ‘ratchet effect’
that perpetuates meaning in a collective. We argue that understanding forms of social behaviour that draw on lay explanations
of social relations requires a deconstructive effort that maps the evolutionary trajectory of a representational project in
terms of its adaptation over time. We go on to illustrate our proposal visiting data that emerged in an inquiry investigating
Maltese immigrants’ perspectives towards their countries of settlement and origin. This data reveals an assimilationist acculturation
preference amongst the Maltese in Britain that seems incongruous with the current climate of European integration and Maltese
communities in other countries around the world. We demonstrate that a historical concern with regard to this apparent behaviour
helps explain how Maltese immigrants to Britain opt for certain forms of intercultural relations than others that are normally
preferable. We demonstrate that these preferences rely on an evolved justification of the Maltese getting by with foreign
rulers that other scholars have traced back to the medieval practice of chivalry.
outcomes and expectations. Human behaviour occurs along a temporal trajectory that marks the projects individuals adopt in
their quests of human action. Explanations of social behaviour are limited insofar as they exclude a historical concern with
human purpose. In this paper, we draw on Bartlett’s notion of collective remembering to argue that manifest social relations
are rooted in past events that give present behaviours meaning and justification. We further propose an epidemiological time-series
framework for social representations, that are conceptualised as evolving over time and that are subject to a ‘ratchet effect’
that perpetuates meaning in a collective. We argue that understanding forms of social behaviour that draw on lay explanations
of social relations requires a deconstructive effort that maps the evolutionary trajectory of a representational project in
terms of its adaptation over time. We go on to illustrate our proposal visiting data that emerged in an inquiry investigating
Maltese immigrants’ perspectives towards their countries of settlement and origin. This data reveals an assimilationist acculturation
preference amongst the Maltese in Britain that seems incongruous with the current climate of European integration and Maltese
communities in other countries around the world. We demonstrate that a historical concern with regard to this apparent behaviour
helps explain how Maltese immigrants to Britain opt for certain forms of intercultural relations than others that are normally
preferable. We demonstrate that these preferences rely on an evolved justification of the Maltese getting by with foreign
rulers that other scholars have traced back to the medieval practice of chivalry.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Regular Article
- Pages 1-19
- DOI 10.1007/s12124-012-9212-0
- Authors
- Gordon Sammut, University of Malta, Tal-Qroqq, Malta
- Stavroula Tsirogianni, London School of Economics, London, UK
- Brady Wagoner, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- Journal Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science
- Online ISSN 1936-3567
- Print ISSN 1932-4502