Quaderni di Teoria Sociale

Tra influence culture e attivismo digitale: l’influ-attivismo come nuovo vettore di cultura politica

2025-04-22T11:30:14+02:00

This article explores the emerging phenomenon of influ-activism, where digital influencers and activists converge, creating hybrid practices that blur the lines between commerce and political engagement. Influencers are increasingly aligning themselves with social causes, enhancing their public image and authenticity, while activists are adopting influencer marketing strategies to amplify their impact and secure resources. This bidirectional movement raises critical questions about the commodification of activism and the role of digital platforms in shaping political discourse. By considering influ-activism as a breeding ground for political cultures, the authors propose a comprehensive theoretical framework based on four key dimensions of investigation: (1) communicative subjectivity, where influencers adopt political identities and blend self-commodification with political mobilisation; (2) communicative practices, highlighting how influencers commit their personal brand to political and social causes to strategically increase visibility and engagement; (3) audiences, focusing on the agency of followers who actively engage in political discussions and hold influencers accountable; and (4) ecosystemic context, where platform algorithms and visibility logics enhance the reach of these hybrid actors and drive controversial dynamics of politicization. By positioning influ-activism within neoliberal and platform logics, the article provides a theoretical framework for future research on these socio-political dynamics.

Dai saperi esperti al saper esporti: la legittimazione culturale dell’attivismo degli influencer

2025-04-22T13:55:44+02:00

In the current social media ecosystem, highly visible online content creators seem to become nodal intermediaries not only for market goods but also for a set of actions and social knowledges traditionally placed in the category of activism. Recent developments in the influencers cultures and industries reveal a profound change in activism, involving not only tools and modes of action but also the objectives, subjects, and the very conception of the phenomenon. This article examines how the legitimisation of influencer activism occurs, attempting to trace some research paths that can improve the formulation of a problem. We hypothesise that behind these changes in legitimization lies a deeper transformation of the social imaginary, which concerns not only the current centrality of influencers but the way public engagement and the knowledge necessary for action are understood, especially by young audiences. Such changes can be summarized in two macro-phenomena that seem to characterize the forms of cultural intermediation in digital environments: intimization and platformization of the subject.

Make Men Great Again. L’ascesa dei manfluencer

2025-04-22T14:01:53+02:00

This study aims to explore the role of influencer activists as ideological mediators between the private and public spheres. The focus will be on influ-activists from the manosphere, referred to as manfluencers who amplify the ideologies typically associated with these online communities through their content. These popular figures utilize videos and podcasts to provide advice to thousands of men and boys on a variety of topics, including interpersonal relationships, mental health, physical well-being, and strategies for achieving material and social success. Despite the diversity of subjects they cover, a consistent theme across their content is the promotion of a successful model of masculinity, primarily characterized by financial success and control over women. By positioning themselves as authentic life coaches, these influencers foster the perception that personal development and social or political engagement are intricately linked, that self-improvement is congruent with a broader need for metapolitical acknowledgment. This work will show how manfluencers are not only turning the more backward ideologies of the manosphere into popular entertainment, effectively making misogyny a viable business model, but they are also shaping public discourse and political dynamics in ways that bolster conservative and profoundly reactionary ideologies.

Sex-influencer. Liberare il sesso tra logiche di mercato e culture digitali

2025-04-22T14:04:52+02:00

This article explores the intersection of sexuality and social media, focusing on the emerging role of sex-influencers within digital cultures. These individuals, who use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to share content related to intimacy and sex, act as cultural mediators between users and issues of sexual health, education, and rights. By analysing the historical and cultural context of communication about sexuality, the article discusses the evolution of discourse on sexuality from traditional to social media, highlighting the shift from an era of restriction to one of increased visibility and openness. This article examines the role of sex-influencers in shaping conversations and perceptions about sexuality in an era defined by neoliberal ideologies, ethical issues, and challenges related to online censorship, including but not limited to shadowbanning. Furthermore, the article discusses the notion of sex positivity as a fundamental element of these influencers’ digital activism, while acknowledging the tensions between sexual liberation and the dynamics of commodification and depoliticisation of discourses on sexuality. The article invites critical reflection on the transformative potential and contradictions inherent in the influence of digital sex-positivity, and highlights the need for further empirical research to better understand its impact on activist audiences and practices.

Influ-attivismo e salute: un focus sui medici influencer

2025-04-22T14:08:24+02:00

This article investigates the phenomenon of influ-activism within the medical community, focusing on how healthcare professionals leverage social media platforms to advocate for health-related causes. It identifies three ideal types of medical influ-activists: (1) those advocating for science and evidence-based medicine, who use their platforms to counter misinformation and promote the authority of biomedical knowledge; (2) professionals who champion complementary and alternative medicine, often challenging traditional biomedical models in favour of holistic, patient-centred approaches; and (3) those defending marginalized patient groups, who use their visibility to advocate for patient rights and combat health-related stigma. Through a multi-dimensional analysis, the article explores the ways in which these influencers interact with their audiences, employ different strategies of
legitimation, and navigate the complex dynamics of platform visibility and neoliberal logics. The article also raises critical questions about the ethical challenges and risks of commodifying health communication in the digital age, as well as the impact of platform affordances on medical authority and patient engagement.

Habitus, rapporti di potere e pratiche di resistenza. Una conversazione con Chiara Piazzesi

2025-04-22T14:19:23+02:00

Chiara Piazzesi è professoressa ordinaria di sociologia all’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), in Canada. Si è formata alla Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa e all’Università di Pisa, per poi completare il suo dottorato di ricerca all’Università del Salento. Dopo il dottorato ha insegnato e fatto ricerca in Francia, in Germania (Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universtität Greifswald), in Brasile (Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Parana), prima di trasferirsi a Montreal, dove insegna dal 2013.

L’intrigo del comprendere. L’ermeneutica fenomenologica di Paul Ricœur per la teoria sociale

2025-04-22T14:13:23+02:00

This essay emphasizes the significance of Paul Ricœur’s legacy for social theory, specifically his essential contribution to the examination of interpretative processes. After briefly discussing the Methodenstreit in relation to the dichotomy between explanation and understanding, I explore the similarities and differences between the cognitive approaches of understanding and interpretation, highlighting the unique and innovative contribution made by Ricœur’s phenomenological hermeneutics in this regard. In the second part, I consider some of the points presented by the French philosopher in Du texte à l’action (1986), analyzing the relationship between action and language on one hand, and the hermeneutic circularity between understanding and explanation on the other. My conclusion comments on the Ricœurian hypothesis of an anthropological model based on the hermeneutics of human action. This is understood both as an interpretative process for acquiring knowledge of human world, which requires continuous mediation between the procedures of understanding and explanation, and as a transformative paradigm for social action. Through processes of configuration and reconfiguration of meaning, new possibilities of being-in-the-world are opened up.

The Carousel. Storia della rappresentazioni e delle esposizioni di sé tra Ottocento e Novecento

2025-04-22T14:16:34+02:00

In a dense plot of images extended from the 19th to the 20th century, this paper aims to reconstruct the problematic relationships between the metropolis and identity, focusing on the genesis, transformations and experiments carried out by advertising. Advertising, an expanding and highly codified narrative system (shock, indirect communication, senses and states of consciousness, immersion, narcosis, simulations), is understood as the best formal response to the changing sensory and moral conditions of the metropolis. This language is at the same time a sphere of multiplication of fashions and economic processes, and a means of survival in relation to the chaos and dispersion of phenomena. From the preliminary aesthetic experiences of the early 20th century (windows, posters, paintings) to the most recent media platforms (virtual reality, television series), in the history proposed here, we witness a progressive convergence between advertising and identity, representation and everyday life. A convergence that can be understood, beyond mere self-exhibition or vulgar narcissism, as the appropriation of the modes and tools necessary for the conquest of meaning.

Recensioni

2025-04-22T14:22:52+02:00

Massimo Cerulo

Marco Santoro, Barbara Grüning, Cultura e società. Concetti, modelli, questioni, Carocci, Roma, 2024, pp. 391.

Matteo Santarelli

Gabriel Abend, Words and Distinctions for the Common Good: Practical Reason in the Logic of Social Science, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2023, pp. 384.

Marco Tognini

Enrico Campo, Yves Citton (eds.), The Politics of Curiosity. Alternatives to the Attention Economy, Routledge, London and New York, 2024, pp. 238.