In this chapter gender is analysed as a semiotic system in which particular values, ideas and practices are associated with the designations ‘female’ and ‘male’. These categories provide the framework for marking a range of material elements, personal dispositions and behavioural styles. These elements, dispositions and styles are in turn comprehended as signifiers of gender and provide the resources which individuals employ to express a social gender identity.

Sign systems function as a means of communication for social groups, and their operation is dependent on the intersubjectively shared representations of group members. In this sense sign systems can be seen as an expression of social representations. We have used the concept of social representations to explore social psychological aspects of gender (Lloyd, 1987; Lloyd and Duveen, 1989). In this chapter a detailed consideration of the nature of semiotic relations provides the framework for a discussion of developmental changes in the construction of social gender identities through a reexamination of material from studies of young children's gender knowledge.

Developmental semiotics

When someone describes a doll as a toy for girls, or a gun as a toy for boys, they are not describing characteristics which are physically inscribed in these toys, but the social markings of these objects. Mugny, De Paolis and Carugati have observed that social marking ‘connects relations of a cognitive order with those of a social order’ (1984, p. 137). This connection arises through the use of the same social representation to mark objects as well as to structure the cognitive processes required to comprehend the markings.

Social representations as a perspective in social psychology

The concept of social representations introduced into social psychology by Moscovici and his collaborators has had a chequered reception in the English speaking world. It is in La Psychanalyse, son image et son public that Moscovici (1976a) elaborated the concept of social representation most fully, both theoretically and empirically. In the absence of a translation, even Moscovici's own English presentations of the concept have an abstract, general or programmatic character, since they introduce a theoretical perspective without the benefit of a clear demonstration of its value for empirical research (see Moscovici, 1973, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988; Moscovici and Hewstone, 1983).

In calling the first chapter of his book ‘Social representation: a lost concept’ Moscovici implies that social psychology has become disengaged from a concern with the situation of psychological processes in social life. The concept of social representation is intended to restore to social psychology an awareness of the social by providing the means for comprehending social life from a psychological perspective. Such a perspective is a necessary prerequisite for understanding the influence of social relations on psychological processes.

Moscovici defines social representations as