Economics and common sense: studies of social representations of the economic crisis and the euro.

Summary In this thesis, we focus on the relationship between economics and its social representation, between science and its common sense. In a first, theoretical chapter, we show that the social representations of lay people play a role in economic modeling and in the implementation of economic policies. In a second, empirical chapter, we first describe the social representation of the 2008 economic crisis in France and show that the differences in representation may be due to the perception of personal financial threats. The latter lead to different types of actions to cope (or not) with the economic crisis. In a third, empirical chapter, we study the possibility of a cognitive adjustment between lay representations of economic theories that explain economic crises and these economic theories. We also study the influence of sociodemographic and psychological differences (such as political opinions and belief in a just world) on these economic theories. Finally, in a last empirical chapter, we examine the social representations of the euro and discuss the notion of monetary illusion as well as the perception of European monetary policies in France.