The relationship with written text: practices and representations of Algerian youth about reading

Abstract

Reading from the point of view of sociology is an activity or a practice for which the public, the dimensions and meanings are diverse. Many studies in humanities and social sciences have suggested approaches to this practice from different and multiple angles. In this article, we choose to investigate reading as a cultural practice, and we are particularly interested in the practices and the social representations that individuals build around it, as well as the mechanisms of emergence and transformation of this practice though the biographical journey of individuals. For this, we rely on the atomic, micro-sociological approaches with all their epistemological requirement and methodological equipment using the focus group technic with a group of young Algerians, active members of book clubs, in order to draw the subjective meanings and to discover the nature of relationship that individuals maintain with the written text.