The concept of Social Representation Systems in national and international production: a literature search

This article attempts to present a literature search on the use of the notion of social representation system (SRS) under the Social Representation Theory (SRT). Several databases were accessed virtually (Scielo, BVS, Journal Portal and theses and dissertations from Capes, Google Scholar, and the journals of the "Papers on Social Representation"). A search was realized starting with the following terms: system, system of social representation, representational system, and variations in English and in plural. The analysis included 37 articles and 7 theses/dissertations published between 1993 and 2015. Through documental analysis, the corpus was organized into four main categories: "SRS as a set of representations", "SRS as a body of knowledge" "SRS as a synonym of social representations", and "Scattered notions". The use of SRS concept as a set of social representations prevailed, followed by scattered notions category. Some productions present insights of theoretical/methodological point of view. At most, however, the concept of SRS isn't used as an object or subject of study, emerging with low emphasis in the texts. Those contributions can be made to elucidate the ways in which representational systems are formed and characterized. Furthermore, the implications of consider the object(s) from the SRS point of view can result in a better comprehension of social phenomenon in case.