Giovanna Mascheroni

The article examines the approaches of «mobile theorizing» developed by contemporary sociologists, among whom John Urry’s contribution is extremely relevant. According to the contemporary sociological debate, a rich definition of mobility is provided, one which covers not only the global and local mobility of travelling peoples, but the multiple intersecting mobilities of peoples, objects, information, images, risks and diseases, and the virtual and imaginative mobilities which reconfigure «the social as mobility». The implications of this mobility turn for the social sciences, their objects of study and methods, are examined through the reconceptualization of central keywords of the sociological discourse, such as society, place, culture and home. An insight on the convergence between travel and communication, and on media as multipliers of mobility is also given, supported by the findings provided by recent empirical researches.