In 2026, eighty years after the first Italian edition of Homo ludens (1946), the essay revisits Huizinga’s legacy for the sociology of culture. Assuming play as a generative matrix of social, symbolic, and communicative forms, the trajectory moves from Simmel (1908) to Bateson (1955/1996) and Caillois (1958), up to participatory cultures (Jenkins, 2006; 2013). In the Italian debate, the analysis intersects with Ferrarotti (2002), Bettetini and Colombo (1993), and Mongardini (1998), who propose reading play as a mediation between institutions and the social actor’s identity. The pervasiveness of play is finally analyzed as an existential condition and identity experience in a reality that is constantly and rapidly changing (Bauman, 2000; 2005; Leonzi, 2022; Milanesi & Morreale, 2021). This reality is not free from sociotechnical drifts linked to digital platforms, where processes of gamification and algorithms adopt play as persuasive practice, alternating incentives, control, and discipline (Terranova, 2004; Fuchs, 2014; Zuboff, 2019). The Huizinga legacy is thus reconsidered in light of contemporary transformations of institutions, cultural processes, and media systems.
Forme ludiche del sociale. Eredità e attualità del pensiero di Huizinga nella cultura digitale.
Morreale D.
2025-01-01
Abstract
In 2026, eighty years after the first Italian edition of Homo ludens (1946), the essay revisits Huizinga’s legacy for the sociology of culture. Assuming play as a generative matrix of social, symbolic, and communicative forms, the trajectory moves from Simmel (1908) to Bateson (1955/1996) and Caillois (1958), up to participatory cultures (Jenkins, 2006; 2013). In the Italian debate, the analysis intersects with Ferrarotti (2002), Bettetini and Colombo (1993), and Mongardini (1998), who propose reading play as a mediation between institutions and the social actor’s identity. The pervasiveness of play is finally analyzed as an existential condition and identity experience in a reality that is constantly and rapidly changing (Bauman, 2000; 2005; Leonzi, 2022; Milanesi & Morreale, 2021). This reality is not free from sociotechnical drifts linked to digital platforms, where processes of gamification and algorithms adopt play as persuasive practice, alternating incentives, control, and discipline (Terranova, 2004; Fuchs, 2014; Zuboff, 2019). The Huizinga legacy is thus reconsidered in light of contemporary transformations of institutions, cultural processes, and media systems.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
