Italian Sociological Review

The Retrieval of the Concept of Archetype as an Heuristic Tool for the Sociology of the Imaginary

Domenico Secondulfo — 2026-03-13

The Return of the Gods – Retrieving the Archetype Concept in Sociological Thinking

Domenico Secondulfo — 2026-03-13

This essay aims to investigate the various meanings of archetype and the criticisms of its use in scientific analysis, putting forward a proposal for its use in the socio-anthropological analysis of social culture.

The Archetype as a Heuristic Instrument for the Sociology of the Imaginary

Valentina Grassi — 2026-03-13

Today, one of the most interesting questions for the sociological discipline, including from the point of view of methodology and method, probably concern the question of the archetype as a heuristic tool. In which way it can be usefully adopted by the sociology of the imaginary - which is gradually making its way into the mainstream discipline and which poses itself as a perspective for understanding the deep, even unconscious, dimension of social phenomena and actions? In this respect, it is useful to look back at some crucial moments in the thinking of authors such as Gilbert Durand and Cornelius Castoriadis, who laid the foundations for an epistemologically and methodologically equipped use of the notion of archetype in contemporary social sciences.

Archetypes and the Iconic Unconscious: Jung, Benjamin, Adorno and the “strong program” in Cultural Sociology

Vincenzo Mele — 2026-03-13

This article explores the heuristic potential of C. G. Jung’s concepts of archetype and collective unconscious within the sociology of the imaginary, connecting them to the debate between Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno on the Arcades Project. Through a comparison between Jung’s depth psychology, Benjamin’s critique of modernity, and Adorno’s theory of culture, the study shows how the archaic imaginary may serve as an interpretative key to the symbolic and mythical dynamics of capitalist modernity. The article also discusses the contemporary relevance of these concepts in relation to the “strong program” in cultural sociology and the iconic turn, arguing that Jeffrey Alexander’s notion of iconic consciousness can be reinterpreted through Benjamin’s idea of an iconic unconscious. The aim is to outline the foundations of a sociology of the imaginary able to integrate the symbolic, emotional, and material dimensions of social experience.

Sacred and “Archetypal Images”. Religion and New Forms of Spirituality in Postmodern Society

Antonio Camorrino — 2026-03-13

The hypothesis underlying this article is that the social relationship with the sacred in postmodern Western society revolves around (at least) two juxtaposed polarities of the imagery: the Christian religion (especially Catholic), on the one hand, pertains to a “diurnal order” in which the transcendence of God – however weakened – still guarantees and imposes a division between the worldly and the otherworldly; the relationship with the sacred of new forms of spirituality, on the other hand, originates and ends on the immanent level, hence a certain degree of “undifferentiation” that refers to a “nocturnal order” (Durand, 1999). These polarities of the imagery are shaped by different “myths”. The first – the one underlying Christianity – is characterized by a predominant “aerial” symbolism, while the second by an “aquatic” one (new forms of spirituality).

However, in postmodern society, we witness a process of symbolic disarticulation, because the “‘archetypal images’” (Jacobi, 2004, p. 61) reveal themselves as ‘blurred’ to the consciousness. Likewise, this phenomenon produced a hiatus between meanings and experience: hence, dialectically, the meanings given to experience are also ‘blurred’. This is due to the collapse of “ambivalence”, which is instead the main feature of the “archetypal images” released by all the elements (Bachelard, 2005).

It follows that it is very hard for individuals socialized within these peculiar imageries to live a “full” experience of the sacred: this domain has traditionally ‘contained’ the “dramas” of existence, by revealing its “universal” meaning to the “total consciousness of human being” (Eliade, 2009b, p. 134). Today, it no longer seems to be the case.

This paper aims to scrutinize the above-mentioned social changes through the analytical perspective of depth sociology and sociology of imagery.

The Archetype of the Great Mother and Maternal Societies: The Code of Emotions and Affections

Paola Di Nicola — 2026-03-13

This article aims to analyse the social imaginary of the post-industrial society. Its starting point is Gilbert Durand’s concept of the social imaginary, supposedly far more influenced by the Nocturnal Order (with feminine connotations) than the Diurnal Order (predominantly masculine). The article suggests that the social imaginary which took shape in affluent societies in the 1960s and 1970s, partly as a result of widespread mechanisms of redistribution, was dominated by maternal symbols encouraging values of inclusion, equality, freedom, and self-fulfilment. With the transition to an increasingly technocratic and competitive society, these positive symbols slowly shifted towards an all-encompassing maternal form, creating dependency, passivity, a decline in civic engagement, and consumerism. This is a sign of the resurgence of the Nocturnal Order with its silent forms of social control, favoured by widespread forms of addiction and the drive for self-realisation in the consumer world.

Archetypal Images and Media Imaginary: potential and limitations of superheroic Great Mothers.

Roberta Bartoletti — 2026-03-13

This contribution falls within the field of cultural studies on media narratives, which are addressed from an original and still underexplored perspective. Cultural studies have typically examined how the media imaginary is shaped by hegemonic rhetorics, reproducing inequalities and rendering marginalized subjects and claims invisible. Within this framework, feminist cultural studies have analyzed representations of female agency across different media genres, which today are strongly influenced by postfeminist and neoliberal rhetorics. We propose to integrate the perspective of the archetype into the critical analysis of media narratives, as it allows for a deeper understanding of their symbolic efficacy—that is, their capacity to symbolically nourish the experiences of their audiences. Archetypal images are indeed powerful symbols, as they reveal the affective link between the embodied and “lived” symbol, and the symbol as represented in the collective imaginary.

The study is based on a textual analysis of female superhero figures that may constitute contemporary actualizations of the archetypal images of the Great Mother within a transmedia corpus of North American superhero comics and films. The research question addresses the potentials and the limitations of these representations of female power and agency. The analysis first discusses how the superhero universe has ambiguously reconfigured female power, which is acknowledged yet continuously constrained within contemporary narratives; second, it shows that even a particularly challenging figure, such as the Dark Phoenix, fails to offer a significantly alternative imaginary of female power, thus highlighting persistent symbolic limitations even in current media representations regarded as progressive.

Matter of Taste: A Sociological Analysis of the Archetypology of Food

Elena Savona — 2026-03-13

The aim of this proposal is to investigate the social relationship with food (now more complex and ambivalent than ever) as a “total social fact” (Mauss, 2016) through the theoretical perspective of the sociology of the imaginary developed by Gilbert Durand.

Starting with a brief introduction defining the archetypal structure of the imaginary and its dynamic components (symbols, myths and rituals) understood as “variations” and cultural expressions of the archetype (Durand, 2013, p. 41). This paper explores the meanings attributed to food during festive practices and celebrations in which the food-sacred relationship seems to express powerful symbolic connections. It is possible to hypothesize that at the root of the current success of these peculiar moments of festive gathering and “collective effervescence” (Durkheim, 2013) lies a renewed need to regain access to a “sacred time” (Eliade, 1973, pp. 48, 49). The “nocturnal” experience of sagra offers the postmodern subject the opportunity to gratify the “perpetual and inexhaustible desire to return to the place of birth”, to its foods and related eating practices, “appeasing” the “nostalgia” that, otherwise, a departure from it can produce (Teti, 1999, p. 90). For these reasons, food festival represents the possibility of an “eternal return” (Eliade, 1959) to the place and time of one’s origins, a sensual “cult” capable of satisfying the visceral need for “sense of home” (Niola, 2022; Berzano, 2023), which makes this type of festive celebration a “re-enchanted” expression (Maffesoli, 2021a) of the archetype of the Great Mother.

Primitive Virtualities and Historical Actualisations in the Dance of Pina Bausch. For a Sociology of the Archetype

Linda De Feo — 2026-03-13

This reflection is founded upon the indissoluble connection between archetypal transcendence and archetypal immanence. It is hypothesized that the archetypes of the collective unconscious, identified by Carl Gustav Jung, can be historicized and that, therefore, their unfolding in the world can be the object of sociological analysis. This examination focuses on archetypal formulas which coincide with choreographic expressions. The focus will be on one of the effects of the development of the Western Terpsichorean model. The latter originated in the vital core of the dithyrambic chorus, the place of the first imaginative manifestation of the emancipation of the human subject from animalitas. An ideal thread connects the gestures of the chorus members disguised as satyrs, who inherit the primordial scream, to the subsequent articulations of the history of dance. That scream resonates in all the artistic turning points that reflect the epochal junctures marked by the crisis of value systems. From such traumas emerges the reactivation of archetypal cores. This paper aims to highlight the importance of the conjunctions between aesthetic inspiration and analytical intent promoted by Tanztheater, founded in the seventies of the twentieth century and following the trail already traced by the German expressionist dance of the twenties. Particular attention is dedicated to the work of an influential figure in dance theater, Pina Bausch, and her transposition of archetypal elements into the rhythm of collective, erotic, political, and sacred dance rituals. The choreographer revolutionises academic codifications by creating figurations in which dancers mime and interpret the ordinariness of everyday movements. She captures the contradictions generated in individuals and society by the archetypal polarisation between meaning and meaninglessness, pacification and conflict, good and evil, life and death, antinomies that will find their full expression in the subsequent traumas represented by the post-organic transgressions of the performance.