From Moscovici to Jung: the feminine archetype and its iconography

Abstract

Our representations of women have their origins in the myths of the past. According to Jung, myths are the symbolic expression of the collective unconscious that expresses itself through archetypes. Archetypes are thus images that pass across generations: instruments of collective thought. The main archetypes we deal with in this article are the Mother and the Anima, or men´s feminine principle. Using Jung's concept of archetype to analyse women´s iconographic representations allows us to combine the notion of the collective unconscious with that of social representations. Whereas Moscovici´s theory of social representations offers us the possibility of analysing beliefs about women through history, Jung’s perspective reveals us the possibility of analysing the myths constructed around women as part of the archetypes people use to give sense to reality.