Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Sociology of Hope: Classical Sources, Structural Components, Future Agenda

  • SPECIAL ISSUE: HOPE IN DIFFICULT TIMES
  • Published:
Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The multiple problems that the planet is currently experiencing—climate crisis, conventional and unconventional wars, planetary disenchantment with political systems, growth of inequality, increase in all kinds of intersectional violence, destructuring of the political economy of morality, etc.—are not a favorable scenario for thinking about hope. This paper nevertheless offers a summary presentation of the sociology of hope, presenting some of its central sources and components as well as a proposed study agenda for the future. This article seeks to foster discussion of what could be the central axes of a sociology of hope. To achieve this purpose, the following argumentative strategy was chosen: (a) the “place” of hope is explored in some classics of sociology, (b) the central components of a sociological investigation of hope are synthesized, and (c) an agenda is presented as a summary for a future development of a sociology of hope. The article seeks to draw attention to the urgency of hope as an important element for the future of sociology and social sciences in the twenty-first century.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adorno, T. W. 1984. Negative Dialectic. Madrid: Taurus

    Google Scholar 

  • Amsler, S. 2016. Learning Hope. An Epistemology of Possibility for Advanced Capitalist Society. In: Dinerstein, A. (eds) Social Sciences for an Other Politics. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, E. C. & Willis, K. 2014. ‘Without hope everything would be doom and gloom’: young people talk about the importance of hope in their lives. Journal of Youth Studies, 17:6, 778-793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloch, E. 1986. The Principle of Hope. United States: The MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekeke, E. C., & Eyo, U. E. 2016. The Necessity of Hope: A Philosophical and Theological Appraisal. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 12(5), 371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fals Borda, O. 2008. Una sociología sentipensante para América Latina. Anthology and presentation. Edited by Víctor Manuel Moncayo. CLACSO

  • Freire, P. 1992. Pedagogia da Esperança Um Reecontro com a Pedagogia do Oprimido. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fromm, E. 1998. The Creed of a Humanist. In: E. Fromm (Eds.) Humanism as Real Utopia. The faith in man. Posthumous work VIl. Published by Rainer Funk. Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Mexico: Paidos.

  • Gaskins, R. 2018. Marcuse’s Hegel: Hope and Despair in the Logic of Negation. Society, Vol 55, Issue 4, 361–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleist, N. 2016. Introduction: Studying hope and uncertainty in African migration. In Nauja Kleist and Dorte Thorsen (Ed.) Hope and Uncertainty in Contemporary African Migration. United Kingdom: Routledge

  • Land, N; Brassier, R. & Mackay, R. 2011. Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987-2007. United Kingdom: Urbanomic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackay, R. & Avanessian, A. 2014 #ACCELERATE: The Accelerationist Reader. United Kingdom: Urbanomic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, H. 1969. An Essay on Liberation. USA: Bacon Presss.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariategui, J. C. 1973. Siete ensayos sobre la interpretación de la realidad peruana. Mexico: Ediciones Quinto Sol.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, M. 2007. Hope for a Cause as Cause for Hope: The Need for Hope in Environmental Sociology. American Sociologist, 38, 250-261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M. 2016. The responsibility for social hope. Thesis Eleven, 136(1), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513616647574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen A. & Wilkinson I. 2015. Editorial introduction: The sociology of hope in contexts of health, medicine, and healthcare. Health, 19(2): 113-118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Quijano, A. 2014. Estética de la utopía. En Preguntas y Horizontes , 32–42. CLACSO. https://biblioteca-repositorio.clacso.edu.ar/handle/CLACSO/16255. Accessed 04/05/23

  • Scribano, A. 2022. Founding Women, Sociology, and Hope. Am Soc https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-022-09552-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrian Scribano

Authors
  1. Adrian Scribano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrian Scribano.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Scribano, A. The Sociology of Hope: Classical Sources, Structural Components, Future Agenda. Soc 61, 1–8 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-023-00888-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-023-00888-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation