RELIGIONS EVERYWHERE
Symbols, Images, and Transgressions
In recent years, religious symbols and language have gained prominence in the public sphere, causing a stir and sparking heated debates. The trend is found from political rallies to street demonstrations, from advertising billboards to fashion shows, and in the marketing and journalism surrounding the advent of new technologies. The reasons for this renewed visibility can be found in the recognition of the symbolic dimension’s importance in shaping reality. Social actors use signs and images associated with religion, thereby transcending their original contexts. This book interweaves international analyses and documents the thesis by highlighting the media’s role in shaping these processes. It shows how religions themselves are attempting, with some risk to their authority, to break new symbolic ground.
THE CONTESTED SYMBOLS
Religious Symbols between Public Representations and Legal Conflicts
Who do religious symbols belong to? Who can use them, and how? What conflicts are triggered by their use, and who is entitled to resolve them? These questions touch on topics that society is questioning today. They pave the way for theoretical reflections on the transformations of a symbolic asset that is increasingly contested in the public space. Drawing on interdisciplinary research from the domains of sociology and law, this volume offers interpretations that, through detailed and in-depth analysis, aim to address these questions. For their contributions, Nardella, Toscano, and Vanoni took a multi-pronged approach, establishing a long-term collaboration that brought together their respective analytical perspectives and expertise.
THE MIGRATION OF SYMBOLS
Advertising and Religion
Why does advertising resort to religious content to promote products that have no apparent connection to religion? When did this start? Addressing these questions requires reflection on a significant shift in the exchange of symbolic goods, both religious and economic, and public discourses that have gained prominence. In this book, a vast sample of advertisements spanning fifty years of Italian social history is analyzed, which allows the identification of the most frequently used religious symbols, the advertising purposes they serve, and changes in their use over time. Convergences and tensions between meaning and consensus are highlighted, which point to a shift in the use of religious symbols beyond the boundaries of religion.
