Towards a sociology of attention captured: reflections from the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article aims to think and propose, epistemically and methodologically, a sociology of capturing attention in the light of current sociotechnical phenomena, taking some examples from the Covid-19 pandemic in the West. Considering attention as a resource of the economy triggered by informational and vigilance capitalism, it is suggested to study the capture of visual attention in general, and the capture of manipulable attention in particular, as an area of extreme relevance in contemporary sociology. Captology, this new science that operationalizes digital knowledge and techniques on socio-digital platforms with a view to capturing attention, produces sufficient financial, behavioral and cultural impacts to merit a new sociological discipline.