Articoli taggati con ‘Sociology’
Instability of the imaginary and media power between old new cultural industries
There is a strong perception of insecurity in Italy because of various more or less recent phenomena such as terrorism, immigration, unemployment, and then again, an economic crisis, a pandemic and an unexpected war that never seem to end. Events responsible for serious social instability that, if not well imagined, communicated, and managed distributes cultural and political power to old and new consumer products (re)transforming society into a spectacle perhaps already seen. Faced with this, no institution seems to have the right tools and an adequate political-economic plan to re-establish an acceptable level of social security, or at least to make citizens perceive this. Urban sociology in these cases speaks of ‘social disorganisation’ and this is often followed by ‘individual disorganisation’. The evolution of society, the new electronic and digital media, the phenomenon of globalisation, political-economic changes and the constant and daily representation of crime and violence by the mass media, have strongly influenced human interactions, radically changing the way people relate and communicate, construct and perceive their identity and reality. It is these processes that characterise social transformations and the growth of human egoism, ‘where individuals, in order for violence to be effective, act strategically by striking each other in emotionally favourable conditions’ (Collins, 2014).
Intercultural and institutional sociology. Attempts at integration within the information society.
In a global modernity, individuals and communities from different parts of the world are now able to build new models and aspirations at the same time thanks to the opportunities offered by new communication tools that constantly provide resources for the definition of individual and collective identity. What we call “globalization” today is mainly characterized by machines: industries, institutions, ideas, images, news and values have developed around the new technologies. The media-migration relationship is today one of the possible keys to scientifically interpreting modernity, as it interpenetrates much of the contemporary characterization of sociality, of the traditional boundaries within which we manage memberships and differences.
The experience of the image in digital media. Reflections on today’s cognitive forms.
A red icon on a blue coloured background. Notification: Tom has shared a picture on your timeline. A ringtone and vibration, the phone’s screen lights up, a message appears: Richard has sent you a picture. The quantity of images that people each second of every day take and spread digitally is an unmeasurable phenomenon. Due to its extraordinary contribution, it is like counting the grains of sand in a desert. Together with the certainly interesting numerical-quantitative data, reflection on the growing meaning of these social activities of taking and sharing images (for the individual as well as the community), is needed. This introduction first of all provides a snapshot of today. A huge number of reports from the most important research institutes tell us about the growing number of uploaded as well as shared images on social networks. (Nielsen, Ericson Consumer Lab, etc.). The reports suggest, more or less intentionally, “how” the analysed data appears in the social contexts by telling us the “quantum” of a given percentage. The “how”, that is the communicative nature of the contemporary digital image, raises many doubts and provides the focus for much research today. The productive growth of images helped by the devices’ dematerialization – a topic worthy of a separate publication – doesn’t just appear as mere quantitative data. It also indicates the cultural, communicative and social growth of activities and processes more and more relevant today. Product together with action.
