Toward a Social Representation of Forests by Western Urbanized Societies

This chapter focuses on the concept of social representation introduced by Moscovici in the 1960s and on the social representations of the object "forest." It shows how social representations can inform about the new connection between people and forests in urbanized societies. Following the triangulation approach, recent sources, mainly focusing on the Western context, are cross-cut with the intention of moving closer to a conceptual outline of the social representation of forests by urbanized societies. The high symbolic value of the forest and trees as noted, for example, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in different regions, cultures, and religions even allows to hope to identify key drivers or elements partaking of its central core. Cross-cutting findings allow to confirm the dominant feelings of worry, threat, or sense of urgency shared by European citizens in relation to the environmental component of forests, in particular at global level.