Representational dependency between two social objects : drug trafficking and violence

Abstract

Drug trafficking and violence are social problems that over time have disrupted the daily life of the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. Likewise, they are two phenomena that from public opinion are linked when explaining the social insecurity that exists in Sinaloa. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between drug trafficking and violence. In order to know this relationship, a word-free evocation questionnaire was applied with an inter-subject design. 443 subjects participated (50% men and 50% women) with a mean age of 21.32 years (SD: 2.23), all residents of the city of Culiacán. Half of the sample responded to drug trafficking inducing stimulus and the other half to violence stimulus. The results showed that drug trafficking is valued in an ambivalent way and maintains a close relationship with the social representation of violence. In this sense, this study has made it possible to identify a relationship of lace (emboîtement) between both objects, with drug trafficking being "embedded" in the social representation of violence.