THE MANIFESTATION OF SOCIAL REPRESENTATION THEORY AND SOCIAL CAPITAL IN A GENTRIFIED NEIGHBOURHOOD IN A POST-SOCIALIST COUNTRY, ESTONIA.

• Author: Nutt, Nele
• Position: Community of Supilinn neighborhood in Tartu city

1. Introduction

   Sociologists and other researchers and professionals alike have stressed the importance of a sense of place for decades. As discussed by Arefi (1999), the sense of place examines people's ties and attachment to their places. Characterizing a good place from a planning perspective, Friedmann (2010) points out place attachment as an invisible and subjective attribute as one of the four key features. Place attachment provides an insight how people feel about their community and how they engage with other people and their surroundings (Amsden et al. 2011). Furthermore, place attachment and belonging to a community are essential criteria of wellbeing for many people (Corcoran 2002). However, place identity often becomes unrecognizable during the gentrification process. The best way for building social capital and preserving community coherence is by community participation in the decision-making processes that concern the future of the neighbourhood (Crawford et al. 2008). This article discusses how people who live within a gentrifying community identify themselves and construct the social character of that area. Place attachment and other social dimensions are closely linked to the place-making process that local people use to form, i.e. create and re-create the place. Thus, the concept of social capital and social representation theory have been analysed on the example of Supilinn neighbourhood in Tartu city, Estonia. Social representation theory and social capital may appear in various contexts and situations. Gentrification of the neighbourhood as the simultaneous urban process has laid out the scene and has created the conceptual framework for this study.

   Supilinn has been chosen as the object of this case study for the following reasons:

1. The area is in the process of gentrification. This makes it possible to study how gentrification is connected to other social phenomena, such as the social representation theory and social capital.

2. There is an active local neighbourhood association, which promotes the values of civil society. This provides an opportunity to observe the construction of the phenomena according to social representation theory.

3. The historical substance enables to study the connections between physical and social environment from the perspectives of social capital and construction of social representation.

   The purpose of this article is to explore the manifestation of the social representation theory and social capital in Supilinn district in Tartu, Estonia. Hence, the research questions pose how do the residents of the area construct the phenomenon of social representation, and how do the residents use this constructed phenomenon as social capital in a gentrifying area?

   To date, Supilinn neighbourhood has been studied in terms of gentrification, but there is a gap in exploring the relationship between gentrification and other concepts of social phenomena, including connections to social representation theory and social capital. Previous research regarding Supilinn includes the exploration of the values of architecture and historical milieu in Supilinn neighbourhood by Nutt (2003), Hiob and colleagues (2012); the course and dynamics of gentrification in the region by Nutt (2012) as well as the issues and specifics of gentrification process within the development of post-socialist countries (Nutt et al. 2012, 2013, 2016). Hiob and Nutt (2016) have studied the gentrification in the context of spatial planning, and the liveability and convenience within the gentrification area have been explored by Nutt (2017).

   This article attempts to contribute in the body of knowledge related to studies understanding gentrification processes and implications in Supilinn neighbourhood simultaneously to other social processes. The results will inform researchers, planning professionals and decision-makers of complex issues of community planning and social processes. Also, it will demonstrate how social representation theory and social capital are linked to a gentrified community. In other words, this article illustrates how gentrification can contribute to the production of social capital.

2. Theoretical framework

   2.1. Overview of social representation theory

   According to Wagner (1998), social representation theory deals with the matter of how members of the population give sense to the most diverse phenomena. The social aspect, herein, stands for the relationship between the individual and the object, event or phenomenon that belongs in the world of their social group. The relationship between the person and the world should be understood through the eyes of the group because a socially relevant world does not exist independently without the people in it and people in the group only calibrate their world view through the discourse. Necessary tools for establishing our beliefs and reliable sources for the knowledge become apparent through the discourse. The construction is also an important part of social representation if we want to understand the social aspect of constructing an object. An object is any material, imaginary or symbolic entity that people name and designate characteristics or values to and of which can be discussed. Object functions are always clear to people as the object always exists in a similar way to a particular group. Social representation is the explanation of the object. A constructive event stands for a situation in which something is given a name. Properties are attributed to something, and it becomes meaningful in the social world.

   Social representation is a phenomenon that brings people together, it is recognized in the media and it has a lot of metaphorical stories (Wagner 1998). Moscovici (1984) proceeded to develop the theory of social representation relying on the idea that people's everyday lives are guided by imaginations of consensual nature that are developed in the communication process. Based on Wagner (1998), these imaginations replay (re-present) socially significant aspects of the outside world for the members of the group. Representation is the relationship between three elements: subjects aka carriers of representation; object that is represented, specific phenomenon or abstract idea; and a project aka pragmatic context, according to social groups, in which the representation is meaningful or intelligible. These three elements form an integrated system in which the latter acts as a mediator for the other two elements. In order to understand how object, project, and subject are represented or in which manner the object and subject are related to the project, it is most important to focus on studying the structure of the representation. A communicative act that creates representations consists of at least two subjects, and of an object in which they are mutually interested. It is important to note that the meanings are never individual or private, but always refer to the existence of another, real or imaginary. Although the form, function and content are individually attributed to the meaning, they are inevitably influencing this process through past social experiences (Wagner 1998). Context connects two subjects through common interests, goals, and activities (Bauer and Gaskell 1999). All the members of the group have a certain mutual part of the whole, but the whole can only be understood in the context of the collective. Representation is concurrently an individual and collective action for cultivating knowledge--improvement, circulation and adoption of the representation are responsible for the preservation and alteration of the knowledge. Representations facilitate the exchange of information inside the group as well as the achievement of individual and collective goals (Moscovici 1984).

   An important part of imagination is the influence of the society. However, new structures will not prove to be effective if they do not find support for innovative thinking, which primarily consists of democratic civil culture, business ethics and interpersonal trust (Sztompka 1996). Hand in hand with major social changes, the way people think changes. Social phenomena are continuously re-evaluated. During rapid social changes, people are exposed to novel social phenomena (Rammer 1998). Identifying with the region is mainly based on the constructed regional identity, which is formed out of the beliefs, preferences, feelings, values, etc. associated with the corresponding region (Proshansky 1978). It is a process that is constantly evolving and changing over time (Proshansky et al. 1983). Excessive fondness for the region can have negative, regressive characteristics. For example, collisions between different ideals and visions in which one main agenda to focus on cannot be found (Manzo 2003). This is emphasized when a wide range of interest groups, whose visions do not necessarily coincide, operate in public space (Ait 2015). The longer the people have been living in the relevant area (Taylor 1996) and the more advanced the organization is (Brown et al. 2003), the greater is the sense of place. Thus, identifying with the region or neighbourhood affects a person's behaviour as well as the neighbourhood in a broader sense.

   2.2. Overview of social capital theory

   Although a community is deeply connected to a specific place, social dimension is primarily important to its emergence and functioning. The main yardstick for community life is social capital.

   Introduced in 1916 by Hanifan (1920) and defined almost 60 years later by Bourdieu (1977), the concept of social capital is the sum of actual and potential resources derived from a mutually recognised permanent network of acquaintances. Relationships between acquaintances exist in the form of material and/or symbolic exchanges. In order to possess social capital and access the collective capital one must participate in the group or network. This (incidentally) requires initial capital. Social capital...