Connecting Narrative and Social Representation Theory in Health Research

Abstract

According to narrative theory, human beings are natural story-tellers, and investigating the character of the stories people tell can help us better understand not only the particular events described but also the character of the story-teller and of the social context within which the stories are constructed. Much of the research on the character of narratives has focussed on their internal structure and has not sufficiently considered their social nature. There has been limited attempt to connect narrative with social representation theory. This article explores further the theoretical connections between narratives and social representations in health research. It is argued that, through the telling of narratives, a community is engaged in the process of creating a social representation while at the same time drawing upon a broader collective representation. The article begins by reviewing some of the common origins of the two approaches and then moves to consider a number of empirical studies of popular views of health and illness that illustrate the interconnections between the two approaches. It concludes that narratives are intimately involved in the organization of social representations.