This paper is about language and its importance for social psychology. This approach to social psychology through language emphasises the contributions of Soviet psychologists Vygotsky Voloshinov and Bakhtin and of the North-American George H. Mead. We also overview the recent theoretical development of the discourse analysis perspective pointing out its concern for meanings and for the constructional effects of language. The advantage of this approach to the symbolic universe, socially and historically constructed, is that it let us consider the importance of human interaction in the construction and permanent recreation of the psychosocial processes, such as perceptions, attitudes, ideas, representations, beliefs, values, social identities etc.
social psychology; language; symbolic dimension; discourses
