Scope note

Text

Persons who share the same representations, i.e. the same views or conceptualizations of things in the world, or the same know-how and practical attitudes, and collective emotions, or the same language, without acting collectively and therefore without being an identifiable crm:E74 Group but being generally aware of sharing these conceptualizations or views with other people and thus having, at least to a certain extent, a common social identity based on social representations and collective intentionality.

The fact of sharing representations, and knowing to share them with other people, is what constitutes in the most general sense a human intentional collective or social context, besides relations of social power based on acceptance of collective rules, or plans to act together. Individuality is realised in the context of this substrate, i.e. the sharing and adopting, and contributing to the development of social representations.

The present class is modelled without taking a stand in the ongoing debate about the nature of collective intentionality: is it simply the sum of individual intentions or does it express something more substantial in the sense of an intentional collective ? The class is open to both interpretations and one can choose to use or not the sdh:C25 Intentional Collective class for expressing collective intentionality, or provide specific types to the sdh:C26 Representations, e.g. 'social representations' for modelling views and conceptualizations shared by groups and societies.

In the perspective of social psychology and social sciences, individual intentionality cannot exist outside a socialisation that shapes the language and categories of thought of humans. Individuality is realised in the context of this substrate, i.e. the sharing and adopting, or contributing to the development of social representations. Beyond its irreducible individuality, a person embodies, and specialises, an intentional collective which he or she helps to achieve and contributes to evolve. This constant interaction between persons and intentional collectives appears to be one of the foundations of social life.

Language

en