*CFP* "IMAGINARIES OF CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM", CONFERENCE

Intersections AIS Imaginary meets Sociological Theories

Imaginaries of contemporary capitalism

Date and place: 20-21 June 2019, Pisa, Italy

Benedictine Congress Center

At least since the 2008 subprimes mortgage crisis, the term "capitalism" has once again made its appearance in the public, scientific and media lexicon. In the field of social sciences the need was felt to return to reflect again on "capitalism" - the AIS Sociological Theories conference held in Salerno in October 2018 represented an important step in this reflection in Italy - after starting from the the eighties the words of reference were "postmodern", "complexity", "globalization". The economic-social model of reference that for a long time - at least until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 - represented the alternative (revolutionary or reformist) to capitalism, or "socialism", seems to reappear timidly even in the USA, where had been substantially banned from the political debate. This raises several questions of a scientific, political and cultural nature: is capitalism still a useful concept for analyzing the changes and the economic and symbolic processes we are going through? How are the recent "material" transformations symbolically represented in the products of popular and mass culture?

From a scientific point of view, the return of reflection on capitalism has the advantage of resuming - revisiting it - the reflection of the classics, avoiding the not always profitable introduction of a new terminology often pleonastic and misleading. In whatever form capitalism was designed by the classical and contemporary authors of sociology, its link with the imaginary - understood broadly as a set of symbolic representations of material reality - is out of the question. It is possible to think of representations of the collective consciousness in Durkheim, of the concept of "spirit of capitalism" (Geist des Kapitalismus) in Weber, of the concept of commodity fetishism (or more generally of "ideology" as "socially necessary false consciousness") or to that of finish of consumption in Marx, to the concept of "money" in Simmel (understood as a symbolic form of the modern). Not all the classics of sociology theorize the concept of "capitalism" (some prefer to speak of "division of labor" or "monetary economy", and this lexical and conceptual choice is obviously not random and unimportant in their theoretical elaboration), but in all of them there is an analysis of the symbolic dimension, representative, consequent and / or coexistent, when not primary, with respect to the modern economic dimension. In all cases - with significant conceptual differences, cultural tradition and historical context - the relationship between the body and its representation, the sphere of the "physical-material environment" and the "imaginary" sphere, the realm of necessity and that of freedom.

The theme "Imaginary of contemporary capitalism" is therefore very current. On the basis of these analysis cues, the conference intends to promote the elaboration of both theoretical reflections and empirical investigations capable of making an original contribution to the knowledge of the images, symbols and cultures of contemporary capitalism, in particular with regard to the following themes:

Themes of possible interest

1. Rethinking the sociology of the imaginary / of capitalism through the classics 
2. Rethinking the relationship between economics and the imaginary from a theoretical point of view 
3. Analysis of the contemporary cultural industry (television series, films, literature) 
4. Analysis of contemporary material culture (objects, fashion, design) 
5. Imaginary as a place of domination and set of theoretical critique of capitalism 
6. Is the concept of capitalism still useful today? How can the perspective of the sociology of the imagination contribute to a sociological theory of capitalism?

How to participate

Expressions of interest accompanied by a short abstract (English or Italian) must be sent by May 31 to fabio.dandrea@unipg.it, vincenzo.mele@unipi.it, irene.psaroudakis@sp.unipi.it.

Scientific and organizational committee

Vincenzo Mele (University of Pisa), Irene Psaroudakis (University of Pisa), Enrico Campo (University Corsa Pasquale Paoli / University of Pisa), Fabio D’Andrea (University of Perugia)