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This paper aims at investigating the link between the evolution of money and social change. In order to reach this goal, in the first part of the paper I will discuss the main viewpoints from which money can be observed, and the basic functions it is supposed to perform in every type of social structure. In the second part, I will outline the evolution of money from the perspective of historical sociology, starting from the store of value function, which is commonly considered the least important one. That description will account for both the spread of money throughout the social structure as a whole and its dematerialization. As a final point, I will focus on the current pyramidal structure of the monetary system, both at a national and international level, and its foreseeable developments due to the recent creation of new forms of money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Oceánide is the property of Spanish Society for the Study of Popular Culture (SELICUP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The sociological and cultural changes sweeping today's societies are driving profound change in organizations. The increasing focus on inclusion and equality is encouraging organizations to develop programs for more effective diversity management. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, focusing on the various actors involved in the inclusion economy, the constraints and incentives for implementing diversity management policies, and finally, the main criticisms of inclusion policies, focusing on those that decry the risks of essentializing identities and overlooking certain forms of exclusion, such as class. By engaging with recent sociological and managerial literature, we aim to draw attention to the ways in which multifactorial matrices of subordination - where economic, symbolic, and "moral" capital differences come into play alongside cultural and gender differences - determine actors' strategies of compromise, identity negotiation, or, alternatively, resistance (backlash). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage is the property of Il Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Discussing the reasons of the marginalisation of sociological analysis on war and peace processes is the main purpose of the paper: such a situation weakens the capacity to understand sociologically macro-social changes. After having analysed in which way war conflicts have been studied during the foundation of sociology in Europe and USA, in the critical discussion it will be hypothesized that such a situation is due to the canonisation of sociology and the rise of its professional identity, between the 30s and the 60s of the XX century. Eventually, in the final part three proposals will be discussed in order to go beyond this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Discusses the fundamental aspects of verbal communication and analyzes its functions in terms of social needs. Takes an historical perspective to distinguish different levels of social development characterized by different communication requirements and stages of language evolution. From these premises, it argues for a sociocultural approach to language teaching. (MES)

The changes in the world scenario undergone since the 1970s, due to the rapid technological development and progressive impacts of social, cultural and climate change, require a re-reading of the processes derived from the 1972 UNESCO Convention. The evolution of technologies applied to Cultural Heritage has significantly improved, in terms of accuracy and reliability, but has not always been generated an awareness of the value meaning of the asset. The contribution addresses the issue with an analysis of the general anthropological transformations to verify what role the Cultural Heritage values will continue to play in technologically globalized world of the 21st century. This paper intends to introduce a series of urgent reflections in order to stimulate and increase the necessary interdisciplinary and intercultural debate between the various stakeholders on the theme of safeguarding. of Cultural Heritage as a driving force for civil progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper proposes an approach to Guadalupe Nettel's After the Winter from the theory of emotions as understood by Sara Ahmed (2015, 2019). The Mexican author carries out an affective politics that, firstly, tracks the emotions related to otherness (disabled, immigrants); secondly, she resignifies "other bodies" in such a way that they are perceived with positive emotions. She consciously makes use of the emotions of love and melancholy to resist the normalising and repressive discourses of "should be." It is a novel politics that seeks to come into contact with the reader - it seeks an emotional contagion - whose purpose is clear: a cultural and social change that aims for a more inclusive society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Palaeontologia Polonica is the property of Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Paleobiologii and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper summarizes the main results of a three years research program about microinnovation processes activated in a range of spaces for youth operating throughout the Puglia region. Partially funded by regional or national public policies, these spaces resulted mainly from renovation processes of public buildings. Their environments offer a range of resources to develop and implement new projects in a work-related area, as well as in leisure time activities or social committed initiatives. Firstly, an exploratory mapping involved spaces perceived as innovative and particularly involved in change-making (Fab labs, Makerspaces, Do-It-Yourself Labs, Independent cultural centres, Spaces for ecosustainability and Community Hubs). A qualitative sample of spaces derived from secondary sources and an on-line survey. A subsequent research stage focused on the participation and learning experiences leading to the development of projects for innovation and change at a social, cultural, economic or public policy level. Narrative interviews involved manager and young people. A quasi-experimental evaluation design had the purpose to test possible associations between different forms of cooperation and the variation of self-perceived innovation skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on processes of social inclusion/exclusion of four different Roma groups living in Apulia, in Southern Italy: a) Italian Roma living in some municipalities in the province of Lecce; b) Roma Xoraxane currently residing in a settlement ("Campo Sosta") in Lecce; c) some romanian Roma living in emergency housing conditions in Lecce; d) a group of Bulgarian Roma employed in seasonal agricultural work in the province of Foggia, under exploitative conditions. The essay aims to highlight the way in which the inclusion/exclusion conditions are politically and socially constructed, affecting different Roma groups present on the same territory. Starting from such cases, the paper inquires into the possible influence of policies-making, processes of social interaction and socio-economic changes on social and territorial inclusion/exclusion of different Roma groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Form@re is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The true motor of the present changes in work contents and identities is not technology in itself but the continuous social process of redesigning organizations and jobs. Taylor-fordism in itself was not a consequence of technology but rather a major business innovation, that is an architectural platform for specific technological, organizational and social change. A new paradigm of socio-technical architecture takes decades to apply. This is why we do not know whether any post-fordism may be yet among us or is just going to come. The first point of the paper is that ICT do not convert real into virtual organizations and jobs but merely design and manage them on a remote basis, generating an unprecedented change in the TTT setting of the organizations (tecnology, time and territory). This foster global and local communication, cooperation, knowledge management and new forms of communities. The second point is this development of ICT process accelerates a trend begun in the 70s from mechanical toward organic organizations, from hierarchical castles toward network organizations, from standardized to individualized form of organizations, from narrow jobs toward knowledge based professions, and many others. The managerial rhetoric of the last 20 years misinterpreted those paradigmatic changes and wrongly announced the death of the organizations and the rise of confused notions as people, human side of enterprise, intangibles and the others. This paper is an open confrontation of current human resources theories, seemingly late ri-editions of Human Relations approaches of the 50ies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the transformations in the social regulation of work through an examination of female employment and changes in the role of women in industrial society. The processes of change have weakened the equilibrium of the Fordist regime founded on the breadwinner role, on a gendered division of labour, and on women's responsibility for providing care services within the family. Thus the increase of women's employment is not an effect of change, as are higher rates of unemployment and the spread of 'atypical' work, but is rather the key to redesigning a new equilibrium of social relations. The paper outlines a few European examples of change and then focuses on two specific cases of women's employment in northern and southern Italy. Through this analysis we begin to shed light on the regulating tensions typical of the current phase of work transformation in industrial society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reconstructs the scientific career of Ruggero Ceppellini, focusing especially on his role in the discovery of the genetic system underlying the Human Leucocyte Antigen. From his earliest investigations in blood group genetics, Ceppellini quickly became an internationally acknowledged authority in the field of immunogenetics--the study of genetics by means of immunological tools--and participated to the endeavor that ultimately yelded a new meaning for the word: thanks to the pioneering research in the HLA field, immunogenetics became the study of the genetic control of immune system. The paper will also place Ceppellini's scientific work against the backdrop of the modernization of Italian genetics after WWII, resulting from the efforts of a handful of scientists to connect to international networks and adopting new methodologies in life sciences.

This paper analyses the Gramscian and neo-Gramscian thought and it's actuality and legacy in the international context after the Cold War and after the fall of communism. We focus on the role of ideology and culture in the building and consolidation of power relations and also on their role in the organisation of a form of resistance and contestation. In spite of all the literature sustaining the postmodernisation of our contemporary world, relations between different states or social groups are still divided according to the Marxist scheme of ruling and ruled. Nevertheless, a social order is never completely stable and atemporal, different forms of resistance, a social change could always occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication is central to our daily lives and is the core of the network of relationships among people. As such it is for sociology a key issue in that broad debate that seeks to define the diverse and complex changes of social reality. Starting from the assumption that communication is one of the constituent dimensions of social relations, the thesis argued in this paper is that in the theories developed by the founding fathers of sociology, we can trace ideas and conceptualizations on which, from the beginning of the twentieth century, the most important theories on communication and the media have been founded, and through which, among other things, it’s possible to understand the latest transformations generated by the advent of digital and network technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Sociologia del Lavoro is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sociologia del Lavoro is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The number of immigrant children in Italy has been increasing more and more. They are impacting both on immigration as a phenomenon and on receiving societies. Thus, it becomes important and useful to understand which factors matter in second generation's paths and potential trajectories. Through a presentation of different analytical approaches on the phenomenon of migration, the paper explores the role of the family, the ethnic community and friends, as well as of religion and religious organizations in the promotion or prevention of positive forms of inclusion. With a specific focus on the Italian context, it explains the social and cultural transformation that characterises immigrant families, stressing the role that can be played by the human and social capital embedded in ethnic networks. The main aim of this paper is to go beyond the assimilation approaches and to highlight how immigrant families, ethnic networks and religious organizations could promote integration and the upward mobility of future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rassegna Italiana di Valutazione is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper explores the usefulness and the up-to-dateness of the analytical categories introduced by Banfield when he studied the community of Montegrano in Southern Italy. It addresses the issue of change with the intent to demonstrate how in the last ~o years Southern Italy has undergone a deep transformation. Change has however taken place trough a process, put in place by a system of patronage, of manipulation of the communities, of the politics, of the market and of the groups of interest. Patronage has weakened and manipulated the ability of regulatory makers (community, politics, market and groups of interest) and created a structural weakness of legality and an increase in organised crime. Mafia, th its various regional shapes, for its ability to control communities and to infiltrate statutory organisations represents the most severe problem of Southern Italy. The last part of the paper presents some cases of civic and social resistance to this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deep changes that have taken places in Italian family structures and relationships in the last thirty years have modified but not weakened the intergenerational exchanges. These exchanges seem to be fed by moral obligations and tie which play an important role in strengthening kinship solidarity and affective ties. In the paper data about inheritance and intergenerational donation are presented, their analysis shows quite clearly some changes in the symbolic/economic exchanges among generations which have been taking place in Italy. Particularly relevant seem to be gender differences in the exchanges within the family and kinship. If in our past sons were more important than daughters providing the old parents with economic help during old age, today what is most needed is the care, the assistance, the company which are characteristics far more intertwined with female attitudes and roles than with male ones. One the other hand exchanges within kinship. In the paper it is argued that there is a destructive contradiction in the exchanges system which characterise Italian families since family solidarity and intergenerational exchanges have contributed to produce some demographic effects which are weakening this exchange system. The cost of children and their prolonged permanence within the family, all together with other important factors such as the increasing presence of women in the labour market, the weakening of marriages bonds and their reduction, have produced a very strong demographic crisis. The demographic characteristics of to day Italian population are creating a relevant disproportion between a very small young generation and a very large old and very old one, making almost impossible the reciprocity of exchanges among generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent discussion about «risk society» is mostly focused on risks coming from the technological and scientific development, while new kinds of risk are emerging in everyday life as a consequence of economic, social and demographic current changes. These risks have not found yet an adequate consideration in sociological thinking. To fill this gap, the paper illustrates the concept of vulnerability as a tool for understanding the contemporary forms of social precarity and flexibility. The main argument is that vulnerability is a new social risk that is characterized by: high probability of occorrence (while traditional risks are relatively rare events), permanence of its effects on individuals (while traditional risks are frequently temporary events), precarity of the social position associated with these risks (while the individual exposition to traditional risks is statistically valuable). Vulnerability may also depress what Sen calls the individual functioning, making the aknowledgement of risks and the capacity of choice more difficult than in the past. AS a consequence, even the sense of continuity and personal identity of people exposed to vulnerability are also mined. Lately, the paper considers the difficulties of modern welfare systems to provide people with ad adequate protection from vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Italiana is the property of EGEA S.p.A and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social norms are informal rules within a group or society. Despite the consensus that social norms affect behavior, there is an inherent tension in the cross-disciplinary norms literature between the conceptualization of norms as individual and collective phenomena. The present paper capitalizes on the potential of communication as the link between different levels of social norms to develop an integrative approach to normative social influences. Concretely, it refers to the differentiation between perceived and collective norms, systematizes the current literature on the role of communication in social normative influences, and outlines how communication serves as functional link between the individual and collective level of norms. The resulting multilevel approach to normative social influences (MANSI) allows us to reflect on norms as dynamic phenomena that account for individual and social change. Ultimately, we discuss challenges and areas for further inquiry for the study of norms, and thereby derive recommendations for future research on multilevel normative social influences.

The welfare state is undergoing a deep transformation. At the same time, the emerging social needs, the systems for the provision of services, the organisation modalities of services and the connections among the distribution bodies and the techniques used by the social work professionals are changing significantly. Within such changes is taking shape a potential misalignment among today’s new welfare trends and the theoretical knowledge, technical and relational expertise of the professionals in the social services. This paper highlights a number of tendencies in the context of today’s uncertain scenario. Among these must be stressed two dichotomous directions: that of a greater specialisation of knowledge and that of a renewed attention to the transversal nature of expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay, prompted by the appearance of four new volumes on early Rome, all associated with the anthropo- logical school of Maurizio Bettini in Siena, seeks to find a space between the current competing methodologies of historians, topographers, archaeologists and anthropologists. The value of a more anthropological approach is to focus on the operation of mythical thinking as a more indirect and symbolic representation of reality. The conditions in which the Roman account of themselves was forged, from the orientalizing to the middle Republic, were a period of immense political, social and intellectual change. This essay proposes some reasons why we should focus less on the irrecoverable historicity of the individual kings, and look instead at some ways in which the myth of kingship may have helped Rome navigate a period of enormous transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the social and political importance of current conflicts surrounding public memory. It suggests that these manifestations are often characterized by assigning alternative values and meanings to collective memories, rather than enforcing historical censorship or perpetuating destructive forgetting. In a second passage, the article advances a more general idea and explores its implications: we are witnessing a global movement of political reactivation of the past and democratization of history, which consists of the recent and sudden emergence of the memories of a galaxy of groups and actors 'for whom rehabilitating their past is part and parcel of reaffirming their identity' (Nora 2002). What explains these fluctuations in the relationship between memory and social change? What new entrepreneurs break into the structure of participation in the definition of institutional memory? To what extent does this dynamic stand in discontinuity or continuity with the past? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether there are different patterns of traditionality in different countries with regard to a perceived negative impact of labor-force participation of mothers on their children and family life. For this purpose, individual-level traditionality subgroups and segments of countries with different traditionality patterns of their nationals were identified simultaneously by means of multilevel latent-class (ML-LC) analysis of the answers to three items of the Changing Family and Gender Roles module of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). This module was fielded in 22 countries in the years 1994 and 2002. Six individual-level subgroups and five country segments can be discerned. The structure of individual-level subgroups is almost identical in both years. Four individual-level subgroups differ only quantitatively in their level of traditionality. Two further subgroups are characterized by a unique tendency to defend working mothers against criticism. From 1994 to 2002 the sizes of traditional subgroups decrease, and there is also some change in the composition of country segments. This paper investigates whether there are different patterns of traditionality in different countries with regard to a perceived negative impact of labor-force participation of mothers on their children and family life. For this purpose, individual-level traditionality subgroups and segments of countries with different traditionality patterns of their nationals were identified simultaneously by means of multilevel latent-class (ML-LC) analysis of the answers to three items of the Changing Family and Gender Roles module of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). This module was fielded in 22 countries in the years 1994 and 2002. Six individual-level subgroups and five country segments can be discerned. The structure of individual-level subgroups is almost identical in both years. Four individual-level subgroups differ only quantitatively in their level of traditionality. Two further subgroups are characterized by a unique tendency to defend working mothers against criticism. From 1994 to 2002 the sizes of traditional subgroups decrease, and there is also some change in the composition of country segments.Este trabajo analiza si existen diferentes patrones de tradicionalismo en los diferentes países sobre la percepción de un impacto negativo de la participación laboral de las madres en sus hijos y en su vida familiar. Para ello se identificaron, de forma simultánea, subgrupos de tradicionalismo a nivel individual y segmentos de países con diferentes patrones de tradicionalismo de sus ciudadanos, a través de un análisis multinivel de clases latentes (ML-LC) de las respuestas a tres preguntas del módulo Familia y Roles de Género del International Social Survey Program (ISSP), que se aplicó en 22 países en los años 1994 y 2002. Se identificaron seis subgrupos de nivel individual y cinco segmentos de países. La estructura de los subgrupos a nivel individual es casi idéntica en ambos años. Cuatro subgrupos a nivel individual difieren solamente de manera cuantitativa en su nivel de tradicionalismo. Dos subgrupos más se caracterizan por una tendencia a defender de la crítica a las madres que trabajan. De 1994 a 2002 el tamaño de los subgrupos tradicionales disminuye, y también se ha producido algún cambio en la composición de los segmentos de países.

An indissoluble bond holds utopia and childhood together, not only because children are often at the centre of utopian narratives and imaginaries in which they embody salvific roles of corrupt societies -- or, specularly in dystopias, that of perturbers of peaceful orders -- but because they both evoke promises of radiant futures. Childhood is the symbolic place, the container of our hopes and desires for the future as a society, and utopia is simultaneously the 'place that is not there' and the 'good place' in which we socially project our aspirations for social change in an ameliorative sense. If this consolidated binomial appears self-evident and thus assumes the force of a "dominant discursive regime", it is true that by examining the production of the adult-centred discourse, and putting the children of the present and everyday life back at the centre of reflection, its explanatory tightness and projective force can become object of scrutiny and rethinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we try to sketch a synthesis of the relations between energy transitions and social change (starting from biological evolution, with reference to fire domestication) in History, utilizing in an original way conspicuous contributions, such as Mumford's, Cottrell's, White's, Adam's, Elias's, Innis's and Schumpeter's ones. We pay a particular attention to the use of more and more sophisticated forms of «energy converters», also the organization of human labor (what Mumford calls a «megamachine») being one of them. At the same time, we try to stress the links between energy transitions and communication, with a particular attention to the implications of those links for the relations of power within human societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three hundred years, with the emancipation of people as individuals and groups, social definitions of differences in inequality and equality -particularly those in social and political power, wealth and rank - have increasingly shifted from being designated as 'bad luck' in the direction of 'social injustice'. These are now debated as signs of changing social power relations, both in economic and political terms. On a global level, increasing inequality is reported to coincide with the reduction in these relations, while integration coincides with integration conflicts and with part-processes of disintegration, defunctionalisation and decivilisation. These contradictory directions can be understood by analysing them as tension balances. Two key questions are addressed here: Which side is (or becomes) dominant? At what level of integration does this occur? I show how the contradicting trends of integration and disintegration have been co-dominant: growing social interdependencies such as those based upon the controls of fire, agriculture and industry, have coincided with growing 'equality' and 'inequality' in power, wealth and rank. They coincided further with rising pressures on everyone involved to take more of each other into account more often, to develop longerterm perspectives, and to identify with other people regardless of their social origins. These pressures in civilising directions include the informalisation of regimes of manners and emotions and their internalisation, processes in which people exercise increasing control over their emotions, feelings and displays of superiority and inferiority in particular, resulting in rising levels of ambivalence and higher levels of trust and distrust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the third century BC until late antiquity, the settlement of the ancient Finziade (Licata) was characterized by intense socio-cultural dynamics that significantly changed the social and economic assets of central-southern Sicily. The Zirafi hypogeum with its an architectural funerary unicum of the time was part of this multiform scenario. Its complex and the articulated depositional plan reflects a long phase of sepulchral use. Here we report on the anthropological analysis of human skeletal remains, found during the systematic excavation campaigns of the University of Messina in collaboration with the Anthropology Laboratory of the University of Palermo. The study aims to combine the evaluations of the human findings with the previous historical and archaeological literature. We defined the use (intensity and typology) of the tombs, placed inside the hypogeum. Our results support previous assumptions about the status of the city during late antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on female mobility in the Long Nineteenth Century. Painters, sculpturs, artists of many different countries came to Italy for their Grand Tour and models of both genders arrived in Rome from the roman countryside to work for them. Usually unmarried and with a poor reputation due to the use of their naked body to earn money, female models tried to build a new life in town, often without a parental network to rely on. Based on literary and documentary sources, this paper aims to explore the relations they buildt in the new context, how they prepared their travel and how they buildt their job network in Academies, Schools or private studios, in a period of cultural and social changes as well as of political instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an analysis of "the demographic and socio-professional characteristics of the Italian community settled in Australia after World War II and its spatial distribution." The authors note that the first generation of migrants, no longer replenished with new arrivals since the 1960s, is aging rapidly, is concentrated in urban areas, and is no longer engaged in independent work in rural areas. An analysis of second-generation Italian immigrants is also presented, with reference to questions of assimilation and intermarriage. Data are primarily from a survey undertaken in 1982. (summary in ENG, FRE), (excerpt)

This paper revisits Karl Mannheim's contribution to the sociological understanding of the role of 'generation' and 'youth' in the processes of change, framing the analysis within his intel-lectual development. In the first section, Mannheim's 'formal' analysis in his short essay 'The Problem of Generations' is presented in the context of his approach to the 'sociology of knowl-edge'. Particular attention is paid to the dialectical relationship that he identified between the pace of change and the succession of generations, as well as to the potential contribution of young people to social and cultural change. The second section, moving from the development of his ideas towards a 'sociology of democratic planning', considers and discusses the suggestion that youth might be understood as a latent resource and a potential agent of change. This discussion is broadened to consider general issues of youth policies and social education. The overall thrust of the analysis suggests that, more than sixty years after his death, Mannheim's sociology raises questions and issues still relevant today for the study of generations, youth, and social and cul-tural change, although many of the issues he illuminated remain unresolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to post-industrial economy had strong social consequences, on cities in particular and in advance. The international debate tackles the negative effects of the economic change on the living conditions of disadvantaged social groups. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on post-industrial transition, analysing survey's data on Milan, Rome and Naples, which show different impacts of economic development on social inequalities and social change. Some of the main issues of current sociological discussion are also tackled: individualization and work instability/precariousness. Milan and, to a lesser extent, Rome offer more possibilities to be employed and to find qualified jobs than Naples. Post-industrial transition entailed an increase of differentiation between Italian Northern-Central and Southern urban areas. Nonetheless, the social mechanisms of class and social inequalities reproduction are very similar among Italian urban areas and aren't reduced by economic development. Employment instability changes the traditional social inequalities, combining old and new cleavages. Unstable jobs have spread throughout the society, but affect in particular people of lower education and women, the main actors of social change in Milan and Rome, whereas in Naples - with the exception of graduate women - they remain mostly out of labour market. The decline of the industrial pattern of «stable-employed male breadwinner» has increased social and economic risks of weak social groups. According to the data individualization approach cannot be confirmed, at least within the sphere of work and economic perception: the «individualized» biographies don't have a diffuse influence on actor's self-perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the elements on which the success of the cognitive-cultural economy in the Milan metropolitan area is based, focusing in particular on the importance of interactions and social networks. We present the relationship between social capital and local development with respect to the social transformations characteristic of the post-Fordist economy; the objective is to determine to what extent traditional research concepts and hypotheses are still capable of serving as effective instruments for the analysis of contemporary society. We thus investigate the most innovative and representative segment of the contemporary urban economy, in particular its relational elements, in order to understand how the city sustains (or hinders) the emergence or development of the local economy. The analysis of social relations within communities proves to be a key element in the effort to construct an image of the complexity of urban development in the post-Fordist economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title of this paper explains the reading key needed to analyse the Italian third sector, namely to verify its internal inclination to the realisation of social partnership. The study of the forms that the social partnership tends to assume is, as a matter of fact, object of a diffused interest, witnessing the growing pluralization of the social subjects involved in personal and intersubjective welfare actions. The route followed starts from the awareness of the internal differentiation characterising the Italian third sector, analyses it under the sociological profile, puts the theme of social differentiation in relation with the theme of social partnership, whose sociological character is highlighted, and finally it proposes to offer some empirical indications concerning the inclination to partnership of the subjects of the third sector with a particular insight on the organised voluntary service connoting itself as a strategic component of the Italian third sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary society crisis has recently put into light male identity fragility - and it happens for the first time indeed. This process can be defined as a conscience trouble into self-constructing within complex societal structures: a difficulty that might reveal at the same time a socialising models inefficiency and a highly complex demand for change in Western societies. In this context gender-oriented identity formation might be at risk, constrained between uncertain parenthood roles and more broaden destructuralising social processes. Within this context the body appears to become a relevant and distinctive element in a gender oriented perspective. In this respect sport. as one of its social expression, can be investigated as a privileged domain for male identity construction and expression process. The aim of this paper is to revel and analyse in-deep emerging conceptual connections and expressions between social change, body male identity and sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary society is often described in terms of regional inequalities in addition to distinctions such as development/underdevelopment or modern/traditional. These territorial differences, however evident, serve as obstacles for sociological descriptions of modernity This paper introduces the hypothesis that every observable difference (for instance economical, political, educative or even individual) is the product of the modern societal system as a whole. Modern society, which is based on functional differentiation, is at the same time hyperintegrated and loosely coupled, totalitarian and tolerant to local deviation. In the words of the early cybernetics: it is ultrastabil. The only requirement seems to be the compatibility between local structure and the main societal structure. From this point of view, in order to observe the territorial differences of contemporary society it is crucial to choose adequate sociological distinctions. For this purpose, the current research offers distinctions like: evolution/pianification, risk/danger and inclusion/exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social and economic changes that are characterising Western societies tend to create increasing difficulties to the Welfare State. The shift to a post-fordist economy as well as the changes inside families' structures are putting under pressure the way public social protection works. Aside political, fiscal and institutional factors the paper underlines the importance of the changes in social needs. On one side there is an increasing number of situations that are more definable in terms of vulnerability than risk. On the other there is a growing fragmentation of needs. So far the public answers have not been able to develop a general approach to the changing situation, even if there are some common trends in policy innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After recalling the most important social changes that seem to characterize the last years of the century, the paper focuses on two emerging tendencies in the development of global societes contradictory on several points, but not excluding the possibility of coming to an agreement: the first one is towards a global integration merging different cultures; the second is towards separateness as a safeguard of the different cultures. The analysis, which at first refers to the integration process of the EEC countries and then to the integration problems of extra-community immigrates in Italy, also considers the difficulties connected with an intermediate way which attempts to bring together both tendencies of the development of the global societies just mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article was the paper read by Moscovici when he was awarded the Amalfi prize in 1989. in it Moscovici deals with certain interrogatives on the cultural and social changes of the last twenty years. The first question concerns the destiny of the social sciences. According to Moscovici discussion bet- ween the different branches is necessary so as to have a better knowledge of reality. The second question concerns &lquot;the crisis of the representation of the social&rquot;. Using this expression Moscovici means to say that the idea of progress in society no longer guides the conscience of the individual. &lquot;Nature&rquot; would replace this idea in the collective imagination. According to the A. it is not so much an &lquot;alternative society&rquot; that is sought after today as &lquot;an alternative to society&rquot;. In this new cultural perspective the reference to the human species and its survival takes the place of that of the individual. The diffusion of a sentiment of fear towards science and technology corresponds to this transformation of the collective imagination. According to the A. the above-mentioned questions can be explained through the difference between &lquot;real society&rquot; and &lquot;socially perceived society&rquot;. In real societies man sees himself as being separate from nature whereas in a theoretic society man is seen as a material force among other forces. Theoretic societies aim at stimulating the process of production and invention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]