Globalização, responsabilidade e a dor do outro distante: notas para uma agenda de pesquisa

Abstract

The article presents theoretical, methodological and ethico-political foundations for a sociological research agenda on “distant suff ering” (Boltanski), that is, the whole complex set of social-psychological phenomena involved in the presentation and reception of information and images of tragedies that aff ect spatially distant and culturally heterogeneous individuals and collectivities. Th e foundational character of the paper is reflected in its attempt to situate the research program on the narrative and visual registers of distant suff ering, as well as on their cognitive, moral, emotional and practical impacts, within widespread sociological and normative concerns about: a) the effects of globalization on conceptions of moral responsibility; b) the psychological and motivational conditions of diff usion of cosmopolitan ethics; c) and, finally, the modes through which proximity and distance influence human agents’ “moral sentiments”.