Serge Moscovici

Serge Moscovici (; June 14, 1925 – November 15, 2014) born Srul Herș Moscovici, was a Romanian-born French social psychologist, director of the Laboratoire Européen de Psychologie Sociale ("European Laboratory of Social Psychology"), which he co-founded in 1974 at the Maison des sciences de l'homme in Paris. He was a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and Commander of the Legion of Honour, as well as a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Moscovici's son, Pierre Moscovici is the current First President of the Court of Audit and was European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs and Minister of Finance.

Biography Moscovici was born in Brăila, Romania, to a Jewish family who were grain merchants. His uncle was Ilie Moscovici, a leading Romanian socialist. Moscovici frequently relocated, together with his father, spending time in Cahul, Galați, and Bucharest. In later years he commented on the impact of the Iron Guard, and expressed criticism for intellectuals associated with it (Emil Cioran and Mircea Eliade). As the communist regime was taking over and the Cold War started, he helped Zionist dissidents cross the border illegally. In reference to himself, Celan, and Moscovici, Chiva later recalled: "For us, people on the Left, but who had fled communism, the first period in Paris, in a capital where the intellectual environments were developing under full-scale Stalinist enthusiasm, was very harsh. We were caught between a rock and a hard place: on one side, the French university environment who saw us as «fascists». [...] On the other, the Romanian exiles, most of all the nationalist students, when not outright on the far right, who did not shy away from denouncing us as communist «moles» in the pay of Bucharest or Moscow."

In 1961, he completed His doctoral thesis (La psychanalyse, son image et son public). It was directed by the psychoanalyst Daniel Lagache and explored the social representations of psychoanalysis in France. He served as a visiting professor at the New School in New York City, at the Rousseau Institute in Geneva, as well as at the Université catholique de Louvain and at the University of Cambridge.

Research His research focus was on group psychology and he began his career by investigating the way knowledge is reformulated as groups take hold of it, distorting it from its original form. His theory of social representations is now widespread in understanding this process of cultural Chinese whispers. Influenced by Gabriel Tarde, he later criticized American research into majority influence (conformity) and instead investigated the effects of minority influence, where the opinions of a small group influence those of a larger one.

Minority influence

Moscovici claimed that majority influence in many ways was misleading – if the majority was indeed all-powerful, we would all end up thinking the same. University of Brasília; University of Buenos Aires; University of Evora

International awards 1980 - In Media Res Prize of the Felix Burda Foundation 1988 - European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences for La Machine à faire les dieux 2000 - Ecologia Award 2003 - Balzan Prize 2010 - Premio Nonino "Maestro del nostro tempo" ("Master of our Time")

National awards Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur

Prizes In commemoration of his elaborate and significant contribution to the world of psychology and society in general, several awards, medals, lectures have been established. Notable among these are: Serge Moscovici Medal awarded by the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) "Serge Moscovici" Values-Based Leadership Award by the Aspen Institute Romania.

Network A network has been established to continue his work: Réseau Mondial Serge Moscovici

Works Social psychology Le scandale de la pensée sociale (edited by Nikos Kalampalikis). Editions de l'EHESS, 2013 Raison et cultures (edited by Nikos Kalampalikis). Editions de l'EHESS, 2012 The Making of Modern Social Psychology: The Hidden Story of How an International Social Science was Created (with Ivana Markova). Polity Press, 2006. Social Representations: Explorations in Social Psychology (edited by Gerard Duveen), Polity Press, 2000 Conflict and Consensus: General Theory of Collective Decisions (with Willem Doise; trans W.D.Hall) SAGE Publications, 1994 La Machine à faire les dieux, Fayard, 1988 / The invention of society: psychological explanations for social phenomena, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1993 Changing conceptions of conspiracy (with C.F. Graumann), New York: Springer, 1987 L'Age des foules: un traité historique de psychologie des masses, Fayard, 1981 / The age of the crowd: a historical treatise on mass psychology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985 Psychologie des minorités actives, Presses Universitaires de France, 1979 Social influence and social change, Academic Press, 1976 L’expérience du mouvement. Jean-Baptiste Baliani, disciple et critique de Galilée, Éditions Hermann, 1967 Reconversion industrielle et changements sociaux. Un exemple: la chapellerie dans l'Aude, Armand Colin, 1961 La psychanalyse, son image et son public, PUF, 1961/ new edition 1976 / Psychoanalysis. Its image, its public, Polity Press, 2008

Ecology De la Nature. Pour penser l'écologie, Métailié, 2002 Réenchanter la nature (Interviews with Pascal Dibie), Aube, 2002 Hommes domestiques et hommes sauvages, Union Générale d’éditions, 1974 La société contre nature, UGE-Seuil, 1972 / Society against nature: the emergence of human societies. Hassocks, Harvester Press - Atlantic Highlands, N.J., Humanities Press, 1976 Essai sur l’histoire humaine de la nature, Groupe Flammarion, 1968/1977

Autobiographies Mon après-guerre à Paris: Chronique des années retrouvées (Texte établi, présenté et annoté par Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine) Grasset, 2019 Chronique des années égarées: récit autobiographique, Stock, 1997 / Cronica anilor risipiţi Romanian, Polirom, 1999