Interview with Domenico Secondulfo: For a Sociology of the Imagination and the Deep

Today, sociology faces new challenges . Above all, it must rethink itself as a multifaceted , eco-logical, and collaborative discipline. In this regard, it was interesting to chat with Professor Domenico Secondulfo , Professor of Sociology at the University of Verona. He coordinated the PhD program in Sociology and Social Research for years, and has worked in the Sociology of Health, the Sociology of Consumption, and the Sociology of the Imagination.

The social paths of the imaginary

• Professor, you edited the preface to "The Social Paths of the Imagination. For a Sociology of the Deep," edited by the professors Pier Luca Marzo e Luca Mori (2019), a fundamental text of the novice AIS category of sociology of the imaginary, defining the need to think about a deep sociology. What is it?

Domenico Secondulfo – “ The sociology of the imagination cannot help but also be a sociology of depth . This is because the socially shared wealth of meanings is arranged according to a structure of meaning that, analogous, for example, to the human mind, involves symbolic elements arranged in a stratified manner, starting from those that are easily accessible and interpretable, down to the less accessible ones. These, however, like the former, are part of the chain of meanings that make up the overall meaning of the symbol, be it an object, an image, or a text, and through the group's reservoir of symbols , what, for that group, is reality.”

DS – “For this reason, sociology must be able to grasp these structures of meaning both in their immediately accessible meaning and in the constituent parts of that meaning that are not immediately accessible, according to a surface/depth perspective that gives its name to this particular area of ​​sociological reflection. It is anthropology in particular that has moved in this direction and has highlighted these, let's say, hidden parts of the overall meaning of symbols shared by social groups. In this case, we essentially recall the writings of Durand, who revealed this stratification of meanings. This is an extension that sociology must be able to grasp in its vertical dimension and not only in the meaning directly accessible, so to speak, on the surface of signification.”

Why study sociology of the imagination?

• Why is it important to study? current events following these specific sociologies?

DS – “The wealth of meanings that gives meaning to the socially shared world – the social imaginary – is constantly evolving, in a constant dialectic between the various levels of meaning, more slowly in the depths and more quickly in the visible part. Linked to the processes of change underway in society and in dialectical connection with them, new symbols come to populate the social imaginary . These sometimes mediate entirely new meanings, linked to processes of strong social transformation, sometimes meanings that are expressions mediated between new impulses and profound currents. The latter express the “latency” inherent in processes of social change. Understanding these balances allows us , especially in times of social change, to fully appreciate how the imaginary that supports society and therefore society itself is changing . ”

The imagination and changes

• In this period of confinement forced many people are increasingly maintaining their relationships – both friendships and work – online. She believes that this mode of interaction can influence, in the long run, their quality? Can new forms of living and imagining emerge?

DS – "The changes to social life necessitated by the current pandemic are lasting long enough to produce changes that can outlast the pandemic itself. The renewed intensity of online life will certainly be one of these, but it will only be able to bear its full fruit if it is combined, in a truly epochal shift, with the spread and consolidation of remote working. It will be this potential consolidation that will have the greatest impact on ways of living and on the imagination."

DS – “After all, the imaginary has long since evolved, encompassing both concretely experienced reality and that experienced virtually through various technological platforms, as Baudrillard predicted and as I have also more modestly demonstrated in some of my writings. As for the concept of the quality of relationships , naturally the medium of the relationship influences their intensity, and we are suspicious of interfaces that distance ourselves from the “in-person” model, which is the natural mode of relationship . However, platforms will not replace every other type of relationship; they will simply be an additional opportunity that, moreover, could make contacts possible that would not have been possible without them, as happened with the telephone. The imaginary is already incorporating this coexistence of different yet synchronous planes of reality depending on the medium used. It will be a new equilibrium with different qualities, but no less so than the past.”

Functions of the social imaginary

• Reading science fiction texts and watching films and TV series whose inspiration can almost always be traced back to Philip Dick and similar authors can be a useful tool within everyone's reach for understand the present and think about a better future (or at least different)?

DS – Certainly, art and literature, as functions of the social imagination, have always been able to anticipate the "impossibles" looming on the horizon of ongoing change more easily than science and technology, helping to build an imagination that, by understanding and integrating them into common sense, paved the way for their acceptance. This is what has already been happening, for almost a decade, with regard to the imminent entry of robots into everyday life . And the fact that this expansion of the imagination is occurring through television series, the quintessential form of popular communication, makes us understand how close these events are.

Bibliography

• March PL, Mori L. (edited by), The Social Paths of the Imagination. Toward a Sociology of the Deep. Mimesis, Milan, 2019.