NEW BOOK

Critics’ Review

Gili and Mangone’s volume is an act of hope for the renewal of sociology. Like Pitirim Sorokin’s explorations in altruism, and like recent “positive psychology,” the work helps to build an integral perspective capable of understanding not only pathology, but also creativity, resilience and a shared sense of new possibilities (Dr. Lawrence T. Nichols, Editor, The American Sociologist).

The sociology of hope is possible! Italian sociologists are “rediscovering” an anthropological constant – homo sperans – by studying hope in different hypostases, based on social theory and historical facts, and creating the vectors of a new perspective. Hope appears as a complex cultural configuration and as a social sentiment that is generated by social relations and allows a human being to act – to survive, to dream, and to create something new in the present and in the future. (Professor Olga A. Simonova, HSE University, Moscow, Russia, Sociology of Emotions. Board Member of ISA RC RC36 Alienation Theory and Research 2023-2027).

Gili and Mangone’s rigorous and inspiring book explores and invites the development of a Sociology of Hope. Hope, among other things, as a “relational good” with the capacity to improve society and to contribute to the mobilisation of praxis. A timely book, necessary given the wars and devastation ravaging part of the planet. A book of interest to sociologists and to the general public alike. A place where the Sociology of Hope meets praxis and humanism (Professor Estrella Gualda, University of Huelva, Spain).

Hope is necessary for human life. In this dramatic historical moment, we perceive this even more clearly.  This book, written by two sociologists, goes beyond their (and my) discipline to reveal that without hope, and without the category of possibility that lies at its heart, we cannot understand human relationships, nor the society they found and make possible (Professor Fausto Colombo, Head of Department of Communication and Performing Arts, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Italy).