Social representations in media communication from linguistic and semiotic perspectives

The theory of social representations developed by S. Moskovichi is not in demand in Russian studies of media communication, while abroad, on the contrary, it is productively used by media researchers. Taking into account one of the main provisions of the theory about the formation of social representations in the communication process, as well as the growing role of media in modern society, it seems relevant to describe the opportunities of applying the theory in media communication studies. Media communication is realized by media as institutions, infrastructure and content, where each aspect contributes to the construction of social reality, part of which are social representations. Social representations of media "users" - mediated social representations - are units of the cognitive space of an individual and a group that are materialized in the media space in the form of a media text. Studies of media texts are developed in the field of linguistics and semiotics. The theory of social representations refers to the means of language and signs of other semiotic modes, as well as the context from the positions of sociocultural and cognitive-discursive approaches. The processes of assigning meanings, both denotative and connotative, as a result of semiosis are also explained from the standpoint of social representation theory. As a result, it can be concluded that social representation theory is a productive theoretical construct as well as a methodological approach in media communication research