Social Imaginary, Communication and Collective Identity
Very there in the nineteenth century there was already an idea of what was "imaginary", this idea was answered by philosophers such as Marx, sociologists such as Kant or Hegel or psychologists like Freud. This idea results from the understanding that the human being differs from the animal by his thinking, the role of the subjective symbolic in the social.
To understand what a social imaginary is, you have to distinguish between the meaning of imagination and fiction, which are not the same how they have a great influence on the construction of certain imaginary. We can say that imagination is the ability to pass the level of physical experiences, therefore, the individual is willing to design, plan, devise, dream and invent, but also this virtue is essential for individual performance and social coexistence.
Fiction describes an aspect in fantasy;that is to say there is only in the mind of the human being, as a desire. The imaginary, unlike this is also founded in the mind, but at the same time with the act.
Through communication reality is transmitted and a real aspect is developed. Here you can mention the construction of society or nation, for example;Society is a human construction;individual action and society are conditioned due to the influence of each other. Humans built society in their mind because of the need for guidance and sense of routines or links and answers to questions such as: Where are we going? Or where do we come from?, They share common images or ideals and a worldview.
Part of societies are the institutions that support the imaginary of society. This is defined as a network of institutions that guides the action of its members and determines the way of thinking and saying.
The State is as the main producer and favor a special idea of the nation, thus regulating who is included in the state system and who is excluded. Especially the media support to build social reality, these are mostly oriented to traditional organizations such as family, religion and schools since the end of the 19th century. Therefore, we can talk about a high level of influence in the population, they reflect reality, but on the other hand they influence it and condition it.
Language is the means by which people convey their ideas and thoughts;Likewise, the language is under the influence of society, therefore it is alterable;For this constant change in factors, certain ideas and thoughts are created, then they become symbols, myths values or other forms of expression;that is to say in imaginary constructions.
Consequently, this medium has great power and influence and even build social and individual imaginary.
Social imaginary institute, create, maintain and justify a certain social order;also they;Ironically they put the social order in doubt with criticism or changes in the form of society.
So you can see that imaginary have different faces and have high influence on everyday life through their mental symbols and constructions.
Analyzing the social imaginary of a social group it is possible to describe the relationship between collective imagination, communication and realization of cultural concepts and as they come from the infinite world of imagination, they can appear in multiple or broad ways;So they can also be resistant as momentary.
There are dominant social and imaginary social imaginary in which there is always a disagreement among the social imaginary promoted by the producers of each of them. Producers can be influenced by certain ideological forms that try to implement their thoughts in society.
The Sociologist Rojas Mix explains "that among the images and symbols in a specific historical context, the national imaginary can be analyzed" and also that "the national imaginary is a reference that tells me who I am on the planet, fixes my identity, teaches meto revere and get excited, while condenses values and principles in which the nation bases its cohesion ”(2008: 2). This configures a way of acting according to a certain form of ideology and justifies situations of power of certain characters.
To found a stable state you need to create imaginary with an inclusive vision. Especially the socio-historical aspect in the analysis of the imaginary should be mentioned, since in the context in which the forms or images are being included.
In short, it can be said that imaginary have an important role in the relationship of the individual and society, since they give guidance and security.
Leave feedback