Per un mondo migliore: la sociologia “dialoga” con la speranza

In this contribution it will try to clarify some aspects and dynamics that appear particularly significant in order to embark on a path that could lay the foundations for a broader reflection on what could be defined as the “sociology of hope”. This path will be outlined starting from the development of the concept of hope in the social sciences as a lever for overcoming the interregnum - the condition of crisis in which what is “old dies” but the “new” is unable to be born. It will continue with a systematic synthesis of the sociological studies that have opened a “dialogue” with the concept of hope and which, more often than not in a direct or indirect way, have considered hope a force that mobilises individuals and social groups to action. The final stage of this short journey will be the paradigm of “humanistic sociology” which well frames in a theoretical and practical perspective the idea of the sociology of hope whose aim is to study how to improve the world.