98

We believe that research on communication and research on controversy should engage in a dialogue in two different ways. First, through a particular focus on the circulation of discourse and practice in the media, with discussions of the underlying conceptions of the social sphere. Secondly, and this is the main thrust of our article, given that these phenomena lie within the scope of our own research practices, such a dialogue should be taken as an opportunity to strengthen our awareness of our own conceptions of what constitutes social space. The aim would be, firstly, to strengthen both theory and empirical analysis of a policy for texts and documents that is already addressed in analyses of the media and the information and communication sciences, thanks to the literary and linguistic heritage of our discipline. Secondly, the idea would be to delve more deeply, from the sociological angle, into theoretical discussions and empirical analyses of the meaning of physical presence and involvement (recorded through surveys) within and between social spaces.