Configuring institutions: the role of discourses and metaphors

Abstract

Representing the body and its technologies builds up a notion of person and, therefore, the discursive configuration of institutions has a broad symbolic base centred on the body metaphor. We start from the idea that the social bond is based on an analogue constitution and both individuals and collective entities are linked to reality through social imaginary figures that each epistemological perspective constructs ideologically and with distinctive hermeneutics effectiveness. Preponderance of the body metaphor comes from solidarity between body and person, based on the characteristic epistemological and ideological principles of each particular historical moment.These pages present some ideas on a diachronic perspective about how institutions have been compared and assimilated to body figures in a way that they are constituted and understood form social imaginary. Also, we introduce a short review on our approach to metaphors and institutions in order to contrast different authors. We expect that this paper is useful to understand the following chapters that are based on the idea that discursive and symbolizing processes disguise our daily world and our daily interactions with institutions.