Bodies, Emotions and Media: Power, Inequalities and Resistance In the Digital Age

This joint session brings together the sociological perspectives of body studies, media studies, and the sociology of emotions to explore how contemporary democracies are being reshaped through the interconnected dynamics of embodiment, communication, affect, and technology.

In an era characterized by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, algorithmic governance, digital platforms, and data-driven surveillance, bodies are increasingly monitored, categorized, represented, and regulated through technological systems. Simultaneously, media environments have become powerful spaces for the production and circulation of emotions, influencing public opinion, political engagement, social identities, and collective action.

The body, media, and emotions are deeply intertwined in contemporary processes of democratic participation and exclusion. Digital platforms not only shape what becomes visible or invisible, but also mobilize affects such as fear, anger, resentment, empathy, hope, and solidarity. These emotional dynamics play a crucial role in the construction of political subjectivities, the spread of misinformation, the emergence of social movements, and the intensification of social polarization.

Drawing on critical, interdisciplinary, and global perspectives, this session seeks to examine how bodies are governed and contested, how emotions are produced and circulated, and how media technologies mediate social relations in contemporary democracies. Particular attention will be given to the implications of these transformations for citizenship, social justice, human rights, and democratic life.

By fostering dialogue across the sociology of the body, media, and emotions, this session aims to advance sociological understanding of the ways technological transformations are reconfiguring embodied experiences, affective relations, and democratic processes on a global scale.