L'arte intellettuale al cospetto dei big data

The article introduces theoretical and methodological issues at the center of the debate surrounding Big Data, which are then discussed and examined in the essays that follow. In considering these, the author refers to the maxims and recommendations that Charles Wright Mills, in the appendix to The Sociological Imagination, addresses to a young scholar at the beginning of his/her studies in the field of social science. The article highlights their enduring relevance in the context of the challenges and opportunities presented to social research by the growing, and presumed, availability, of information stored and organized in large digitized data banks.