Social Imaginary: An approach from Michel Maffesoli’s work

Abstract

In the following text we display a review, ?a sort of collective reflection exercise-, regarding the extensive bibliographic production of Michel Maffesoli, trying to articulate the notion of social imaginary departing from the suppositions present in Maffesoli´s work. In order to understand the production context of this French sociologist, we began by a brief review of his main work as well as other theoretical influences. Afterwards, his fundamental texts are the subject to a reflection: Ordinary Knowledge, The orgy, The Time of the Tribes, Praise of a Sensible Reason, and The Eternal Instant. Finally, several elements studied were integrated in an approach to the notion of social imaginary, facing four thematic categories following Enrique Carretero´s (2003) proposals: utopia?s meaning, problems concerning modernity, symbolic integration of neotribalism, and the legitimacy of social order.