Introduction. The Lure of Communication: A Sociological Path

This introductory chapter deals with some research pathways concerning the convergence of sociology and rhetoric, also investigated through the analysis of the main bibliographical production on the way sociologists have approached the communicative challenges imposed by the media evolution of rhetoric. The sociology of communication has rarely dealt with the rhetorical patterns of daily interactions since communication features the metaphorical and symbolic paradigms of our expressive identity. However, certain sociological surveys examine the rhetorical paradigms and the symbolic foundations of our communicative complexity, especially in the era of digital convergence and mainstream dominion. By investigating some specific epistemological pathways, each single chapter of the book deals with one communicative keyword connected to the rhetorical dimension of daily experience analysed through specific sociological filters: stereotypes (Roger Silverstone), environment (Richard Sennett), confession (Erving Goffman), consumption (Jean Baudrillard), public opinion (Walter Lippmann), mythogenesis (Roland Barthes), media (Marshall McLuhan), uncertainty (Ulrich Beck), metaphorization (Jürgen Habermas), displacement (Richard Sennett). Paolo Sorrentino’s TV series The Young Pope and The New Pope provides two mainstream communicative keywords, closely related to the individualization of faith in the era of hyper-connected existences, incommunicability and predictability. In this context, light is shed on the relationship between sociology and rhetoric from a media and cultural perspective since the authority of the scholars investigated provides meaningful research clues for the development of a number of partially unexplored intellectual and media processes.