MEMORY, THEORY, AND NARRATIVE
CHALLENGES FOR SOCIOLOGY IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Keywords:
Memory; Theory; Narration; Artificial Communication.Abstract
If memory is conceived as the ability to discriminate between remembering and forgetting, reactivating in the present latent possibilities and creating meaning, social memory depends on semantics, that is, the set of forms that can be used in the communication and which take shape through media. After the invention of printing and writing, in the digital world (computers, the Web and today algorithms, Big Data and so-called artificial intelligence), questioning memory requires, from a sociological perspective, analysing how communication takes shape and its consequences on social systems, organisations and individuals, with their respective expectations and claims. There are also significant implications for the construction of theory (including sociological theory) and for storytelling and narration, conceived as activity to disseminate knowledge, which in turn shapes memory. A sociological observation can therefore focus on the link between communication, technologies and memory. The aims should not to predict the future, but to identify the relevant issues that can contribute to determining possible futures, and to reflect on new forms of knowledge production.
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