Social Image and Sociological Image: Sociological Comics as a visual method for political activism

Abstract

Aims Current social life is immersed in images of memories and memories of images. Such memorable social images can be studied by Sociology through the concept of sociological image. This term means the scientific, technological and artistic images, constructed by the sociologist or by other social scientists, to organize contents on the cultural heritage and memory, e.g. for political activism, through visual archives and collections.

The sociological paradigm of social visibilities. In substantive and theoretical terms, such sociological narratives of the visible are revealed and unveiled on a threefold plane where visual cultures and transcultures communicate: at the macro-social level of social structures, through the '(in) visions of the world' ; at the mediating level of institutions, organizations, associations and groups, by means of 'societal (in)visibilities'; and at the micro-social level of the interactions among agents, via the analysis of 'social (in)visualities'.

New media and new methodologies. To study communities of interaction within the public space of the city, connected to communities of interactivity across the public cyberspace, is important to articulate the methodology of the Social / Human Sciences with the New Media. An example is Sociology Comics, both a sociological method and archive to do research through comics narrative. This device works as a Sociological Urban Novel, considering that it is used to demonstrate the potentialities of urban visual stories for sociological research. Furthermore, Sociology Comics uses hybrimedia, i.e. the hybridization/transformation of originating (initial, seminal) media such as graffiti and digital social networks, towards original (innovative) media, e.g. a mix/fusion of the precedent.