Mediated sacralization and the construction of postmodern communio sanctorum: the case of the swedish foreign minister anna lindh

Abstract

In the media age, the linkage between mediated communities and images is established by the sacralization of images. Based on the theoretical insights of Michel Maffesoli and on an influential tradition in French sociology, which includes Émile Durkheim, Georges Bataille, and René Girard, this article attempts to apply the theory of sacred images to the empirical analysis of images in the media. The analysis of the Swedish and Finnish newspapers' visual coverage of the assassination of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh suggests that the process of sacralization is actually performed as a communicative behavior involving the media and the crowd as the main actors and a number of symbols whose meaning is actually shared in the community. While the role of the media is certainly influential, the role of culture specific values and representation system should not be underestimated. The power of the “images of death” is explained in relation to symbolic behavior supported and reproduced, but not initially triggered, by the media. The empirical analysis suggests that while Maffesoli rightly identifies the capacity of images to establish “sacred” communities as an important dimension of the power of images in media age, the logic running this power is very much inspired by more mundane market constraints.

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