This study was guided by reflections centred n the relation between the elaboration of the representational field and the process of social identification, in relation to rurality and urbanity. Two objects, which are part of the relevant social categories and their related social groups, “rural people” and “city people”, were utilized for this end. The corpora of data, which was processed by using the EVOC-2003 software, was collected from interviews with 200 members, representing four generations of a rural community, and aged from 07 to 81 years old, by means of free association. The results indicated that representations of the ingroup are based on positive stereotypes while representations of the outgroup reflect a negative image of townspeople, a dynamic which suggests an evaluative field supported by the ideology of, respectively, a group with humanitarian values as opposed to a group identified with the capitalist values. The function of the representational field in maintaining the positive social identity of the rural group is discussed.
Urban environments; Social groups; Identity; Social representation; Rurality
