Towards a Sociology of Hope

Why does hope appear in certain epochs and places, only at other times to disappear from people’s lives and from society as a whole? This book addresses hope from a sociological perspective, offering a theoretical framework and a set of concepts to consider a range of questions. With attention to who the historical bearers of hope are, and which social groups are most inclined towards hope and why. It also considers the objects and goals towards which their hope is directed and the conditions under which hope is easier. An enquiry into the relationship between hope and social, cultural, economic and political conditions, this volume redirects the sociological gaze towards the discovery of social experiences in which hope resurrects and contributes to the imagination of a new social world. It will therefore appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in the emotions, social practices and social movements.

Guido Gili is Professor Emeritus of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Molise, Italy. He currently teaches Sociology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and Communication Theory at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome. His research focuses on issues of credibility and trust, manipulation, post-truth, transformations of the public sphere, theories of mass society and media ecology. His most recent publications include La credibilità politica (2022), with M. Panarari, Comunicare: persone, relazioni, media (2022) with G. Boccia Artieri and F. Colombo, and The History and Theory of Post-Truth Communication (2020) with G. Maddalena.

Emiliana Mangone is Full Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the Department of Political and Communication Sciences, University of Salerno (Italy). Her main research interests are in the field of cultural and institutional systems, with particular attention to the social representations, relational processes, knowledge and narrative as key elements to the human act, in migration studies, and as well as the study of the thought of Pitirim A. Sorokin. She recently published Pitirim A. Sorokin: Rediscovering a Master of Sociology (2023) and Narratives and Social Change. Social Reality in Contemporary Society (2022).