SOCIOLOGY OF

COMMUNICATION

2022/23, Fall Semester, TP3

Fernando Brissos
 Spontaneous Sociology: society ≈ communication
George Moustaki’s ballad Ma Solitude
(from the álbum Le Métèque, 1969)
<https://youtu.be/BQ-A_aIAtFg> is a
good example of the fact that there
seems to be impossible for humans to
live fully apart from other humans – i.e.,
to not communicate with anyone.
Basically, Moustaki enjoys solitude
because he is not lonely: he has his
faithful companion, solitude itself.
Pour avoir si souvent dormi avec ma solitude,
Je m'en suis fait presque une amie, une douce habitude.
Elle ne me quitte pas d'un pas, fidèle comme une ombre.
Elle m'a suivi ça et là, aux quatres coins du monde.
Non, je ne suis jamais seul avec ma solitude.
Quand elle est au creux de mon lit, elle prend toute la
place,
Et nous passons de longues nuits, tous les deux face à
face.
Je ne sais vraiment pas jusqu'où ira cette complice,
Faudra-t-il que j'y prenne goût ou que je réagisse?
Non, je ne suis jamais seul avec ma solitude.
Par elle, j'ai autant appris que j'ai versé de larmes.
Si parfois je la répudie, jamais elle ne désarme.
Et, si je préfère l'amour d'une autre courtisane,
Elle sera là mon dernier jour, ma dernière compagne.
Non, je ne suis jamais seul avec ma solitude.
Non, je ne suis jamais seul avec ma solitude.
 Spontaneous Sociology: society ≈ communication

A bit more modern:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DItw
To hope is admittance Never finished his sentence
LjGAZdk
Feed before beginning Remained in seclusion
This song is a bit more complex than Double-sided cynics For the next few days
Moustaki’s ballad; Cobain’s lyrics are Reflected images Family is circling
Don't be so selfish He having moved up
typically very complex.
Leaving me this All the styles of heresy
The song tells us about the author’s Follow it far Finally he appeared
To find where you are unexpectedly
inability to belong, the fact being that he,
You haven't grown Looking for company
just like everyone else, needs to belong Go on alone
to something/someone.
Spontaneous Sociology: society ≈ communication

One can find many examples, in all types of art, of the spontaneous (i.e.,
non-academic) reflection on society and the importance of
communication for every individual.

→ Communication, society and human existence/survival are typically

seen as part of one and the same process.
 Spontaneous Sociology: society ≈ communication

We can find that

type of reflection
also on academic
disciplines such
as Health
Sciences.

Basic Human
Needs, apud Virginia
Henderson (1966): The
Nature of Nursing. A
Definition and its
Implication for Practice,
Research and Education.
New York: MacMillan.
Spontaneous Sociology: society ≈ communication

Doing science, however, is all about questioning rules and testing

hypotheses.
→ Find a work of art – something visual like a painting or a drawing –
that contradicts the common assumption by spontaneous sociology
that people need people.
 Spontaneous Sociology: society ≈ communication

Spontaneous Sociology is obviously important to studying human society: it gives voice

to the ones actually living in society (creating, modifying, transforming it).

→ Apart from that, what would be Spontaneous Sociology’s main virtues? And its
faults?

→ Common sense is therefore crucial to deal with Spontaneous Sociology. The same
happens with sociological theories formulated by scholars, as we will see in topic
1.2.