Paura della fine. Cospirazioni e complotti nell'immaginario della società contemporanea = Fear of the end. Conspiracies and plots in the imagery of contemporary society

Abstract

Fear of the end. Conspiracies and plots in the imagery of contemporary society. Although contemporary society is the safest society in history, insecurity is one of the most widespread sentiments. For this reason, fear becomes one of the main feelings of this era. The extraordinary success of conspiracy theories reveals this state of affairs. The fear of the end takes the form of hypersemplified visions, thanks to which it becomes possible to explain the obscure mechanisms that regulate the lives of men. Phenomenologically linked in a direct way to the rapid diffusion of fake news, it is an extraordinary indicator of the atmosphere of "cosmic plot" (Douglas 1996) typical of our time. The internet certainly plays a role in amplifying this phenomenon, contributing to its increasingly accelerated propagation. Analyzing the sociological reasons for the growing success of this peculiar type of narratives, taking into account its communicative dimensions, is the goal of this paper.