The dynamic landscape of virtual space explored through a multidisciplinary kaleidoscope

• Author: C.-I. Rezeanu/C. Coman
• Position: University of Bucharest/Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 143-152

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017

THE DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE OF VIRTUAL

SPACE EXPLORED THROUGH A

MULTIDISCIPLINARY KALEIDOSCOPE

C.-I. REZEANU1 C. COMAN2

Abstract: A social life disconnected from space it`s difficult to conceive.

However, in sociology, the concept of space is still underdeveloped, missing

from theories, dictionaries, or encyclopaedias. For more than a century,

sociologists have assumed space as a passive scene for social actions, and

implied as material, static, continuous and linearly travelled. In the new

context of information society, economic globalisation, and postmodern

hyper-reality, scholars question the conventional definitions of space. We

believe sociologists will arrive at a more nuanced understanding of space, by

taking an interdisciplinary approach, and focusing on how space is lived. We

use virtual space as a proxy for understanding how complex space can be,

and frame it through the concept of “cultural landscape” to capture its

relational, dynamic, and socially constructed dimensions. Our aim is to

illustrate the dynamism, versatility, and fluidity of virtual spac e by moving

from one discipline and theoretical perspective to the other and interpreting

the newly configured landscapes. We show that virtual space is a

discontinuous imaginary process, organised in networks with multiple layers,

experienced as a journey into a narrative text or as a ”consensual

hallucination”, where the evanescence of the body and the anonymity of the

self boost the quest for authenticity, self-discovery, self-disclosure and

intimacy. Nonetheless, virtual space, due to its potential to equalise statuses,

minimise authority and multiply the audiences of messages, is becoming the

enabler of Habermasian communicative rationality, rousing moral

consciousness and triggering civic actions.

Key words: relational sociology, spatial turn, communicative rationality,

cultural landscape, virtual communication.

1. Premises

One cannot conceive the social phenomena and processes outside of their spatial

dimension. Yet, in sociology, there is no agreement of a definition for the concept of space.

In the last decades, the “spatial turn” of social sciences has envisioned space as a social

product, influencing and being influenced by social interactions (Löw, 2016). In one of the

most cited recent sociological articles (with over 1300 citations), Gieryn (2000) pledges for

“a space for place in sociology”. The author advocates surpassing the conventional survey

1 University of Bucharest, rezeanucatalina@g mail.com

2 Transilvania University of Braşov, claudiu.coman@unitbv.ro