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The analysis of the so-called gender paradox represents the starting point of a theoretical-interpretative framework which, through a structuralist analysis of gender identity, intends to introduce understanding criteria capable of shedding new light on a paradox that only appears to be such. After examining the achievements of the most recent sociological literature on gender, with particular reference to the multidimensional perspectives that look at gender as a structure in the Giddensian sense, the article proposes an original interpretative framework that explores the potentialities of structuration theory, delving into the dual nature inherent in structures, through the recurrence of "cultural patterns" and "symbolic resources". The second part of the article proposes a theoretical shift that assumes gender identity as a structure, to thematize the processes of social structuring that, starting from modernity, have led to the emergence of individuation processes, then declined, in late-modern societies, into individualization and singularization. The proposed interpretative framework allows, in the concluding part of the article, both to highlight how the gender paradox is not paradoxical at all, and to read the strong polarisation of the public debate around the redefinition of possible gender identifications as an expression of the new cleavage between hyper-culture and cultural essentialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processes of social change that have affected Western societies since the 1980s have profoundly changed the idea of the future, leading to what has been called the «crisis of the future». Many studies have shown that there is a variety of answers to the uncertainty arising from the end of the idea of the future of modernity. This contribution, based on the analysis of 40 narrative interviews with young entrepreneurs, adopting the bourdieusian scheme is aimed at identifying the factors, experiences and biographical paths behind the different visions of the future that have emerged from the research. The contribution highlights how the action of the different reproduction mechanisms of inequality is behind the various images of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of mafia studies, the relationship between mafias and territorial contexts is closely related to the processes of genesis and reproduction of criminal groups. It also generates social representations of the criminal phenomenon, which are determined by various actors. This paper aims to investigate the social construction of Camorra in a community where the criminal phenomenon is traditionally rooted in. The long-term presence of Camorra in the community has been characterized by many episodes of violence which represent the main symbolic element on which the process of recognition of the camorra by the local community is developed. The analysis of the case study is therefore a useful starting point for the historical-sociological understanding of the processes of social construction of mafia phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article claims for social philosophy a public function similar to that claimed in the sociological field by Michael Burawoy. Canetti's concept of metamorphosis is the best candidate to translate the immanent and heretical normativity of social philosophy: once summarized the core features of this concept and its link with social philosophy, I will focus on a particular case of real utopias: namely, the recovered companies by workers. After presenting the main characteristics of the cooperative recovery of companies in crisis or at risk of delocalization, the contribution will resume the different processes of genesis of recovered enterprises and, at the same time, the main indicators that allow us to interpret them as garrisons of labour democratization and, in some cases, as real actors in processes of social metamorphosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to introduce the reader to the anthropology of finance in its contemporary dimension of financialization. Through the lens of the feminist manifesto "GENS" (Bear et al. 2015), the author proposes a reading of ethnographies that highlights the interconnectedness of individuals' agency, projects of social reproduction, power hierarchies, and processes of money accumulation. Moreover, the article how the financial industry reproduces race, gender, and class inequalities both within societies and on a global scale, becoming increasingly pervasive in development discourse. The article is divided into three parts based on the relationship between individuals and the financial valuation process they engage in. It analyzes the experts who work within financial institutions; the social reproduction processes of the working classes increasingly reliant on credit and debt mechanisms introduced by financial capitalism; and the people excluded from global financial dynamics, whose financial inclusion is considered the most effective tool to escape poverty by governments and international organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Civilization Studies is the property of Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University 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 processes of social change that have affected Western societies since the 1980s have profoundly transformed the modern idea of the future, leading to what has been called the “crisis of the future”. As a consequence of these transformations, a renewed interest in the study of the future has given rise to much research on the relationship between young people – who, as projected towards adulthood, must necessarily look ahead in time – and the future. This research has shown that the ways in which young people respond to the crisis of the future are very different. This made it necessary to adopt research tools capable of grasping the heterogeneity of young people’s visions of the future. This contribution, which falls within this research field, on the basis of 25 in-depth interviews, aims to reconstruct the different visions of the future of young people through a new conceptual tool: the constellation of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on why and how the human body and corporeality change in the long-term civilization process. Through the Eliasian's sociological prism, it explores the relation sociogenesis/psychogenesis and the interweaving between biological and social processes. In a processual perspective, that goes beyond dichotomies, the corresponding formation of social and psychic structures leads to make emerge the construction of personality, behaviour, emotions, identity, habitus, in the Eliasian's concept of individuals and society as a whole. The figurational dynamics of changing societies create pressures, tensions and conflicts that are experienced by the human body, in the ineludible interweaving between evolutionary, development, social and psychic processes. The framework of the evolutionary biology and the great evolution is integrated in the Elias's sociological perspective, in his overall vision of interdisciplinary research. The paper outlines how drives control become automatic, enlightened by the recent studies in neurosciences and evolutionary psychology; research is still open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reflects on ways of carrying out scientific investigations involving children. These reflections emerged during a threeyear empirical study on the processes of social categorization, where ninety-six minors were interviewed through a photo-stimulation interview. The focus is on the selection and preparation of the detection technique. The photo-stimulated instrument will be analyzed in a comparative key with other detection tools, in order to highlight the potential but also the critical issues. The measures taken to involve minors will also be described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nouns referring to women in professions or occupations offer an interesting field to analyse the linguistic representation of women, including both the sociolinguistic reflections that can be found there and the changes that have taken place in the extra-linguistic reality and historical context. The linguistic datum can be considered an indicator of the social processes to which it is linked. The present contribution presents the results of an analysis concerning the diachronic evolution of the lexicographic representation of a group of seven italian lexemes (amministratrice, avvocata, direttrice, medica, ministra, procuratrice and sindaca). The dictionary is chosen as a privileged observatory of analysis from a diachronic perspective and as a documentary resource because it gathers within it the linguistic heritage of a nation. Dictionaries attempt to describe reality, to record language but also, especially in the past, to guide its use, by placing itself between politically and linguistically correct. The analysis was carried out along a timeline linking the first Vocabolario della Crusca (1612) to Zingarelli (1995), to which are added the very recent cases of Devoto-Oli and Vocabolario Treccani. The reconstruction of the lexicographic representation will make it possible to place chronologically the origin of certain stereotypes, of the overextension of the generic masculine 'prescribed', as well as the hypotheses concerning the suffixes and semantic distribution of the analysed lexemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of QU3: iQuaderni di U3 is the property of Quodlibet S.r.l. 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 QU3: iQuaderni di U3 is the property of Quodlibet S.r.l. 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.)

By critically recovering Peter Berger's analysis, this article proposes some considerations around the wide theme of the pluralism of cultural and religious identities in contemporary western society. The intent is to focus attention on the processes of regulation and social integration that are produced in it, increasingly marked by individualistic instances of self-realization and by the two processes consequent to it: that of social fragmentation, on the one hand, compensated, on the other hand, by the search for a strong identity recomposition. The notion and the principle of the disenchanted reason, as a regulatory criterion in a universalistic sense, is the most important legacy of the Enlightenment: in the strenuous confrontation with the contemporary pluralistic society, the modern universalist synthesis plays the decisive game for the survival of European culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reflection, dedicated to the analysis from a gender perspective of three aspects of the disciplines of the book (profession, semantic cataloging and history of the book), is part of the broader context of critical librarianship, and intends to approach these issues with the awareness that it is an unavoidably unsystematic introduction due to the complexity and breadth of the discussion. However, it was deemed necessary to open a debate or at least ask the question because in Italy these aspects have not yet been dealt with systematically and organically and are discussed marginally and in conflict, without being able to arrive at a synthesis of meaning that accepts and re-elaborate the social processes that have been going on for years and the requests coming from the communities that express a way of being and feeling complementary to the canonical one of the masculine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological culture has now fragmented and has lost its original vocation as a conceptually oriented science. If for the great classical authors such as Tocqueville, Durkheim, Weber and Pareto the project of sociology coincided with the attempt to identify and understand social processes, currently sociological research has assumed a mostly descriptive function, disconnecting the themes of scientific assessment from those social commitment. Will it be possible to reverse this trend and rediscover the critical basis of the sociological culture itself? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we will try to understand the "conceptual" perspective of sociology as one of the possible lines drawn within the cultural horizon of the social sciences. And this can be easily understood if we understand by "sociological culture" a knowledge that is not reducible to a scientific disciplinary sector or to an analytical technicality (an instrumental apparatus) aimed at data collection, but as a conceptual process capable of developing a cognitive orientation aimed at grasping the existential situation of man starting from his historical, concrete and social condition. The aim of this work is therefore, more than anything else, to grasp the process of conceptualisation of social experience starting from the cultural formations within which the relationship between thought and society, or rather, between mental structures and historical-social conditions, develops concretely and reflectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mastro-don Gesualdo the body and the gesture are the main mean through which Verga's writing allows the «unveiling» of the characters' inner life to the reader. This paper aims to describe how the characters of the novel, consistendy with the social processes that Verga intends to represent, live a form of closure to communication that finds its most «exact» representation in silence and, concerning the body, in the pose of the turned shoulders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses and analyses the processes that are producing a progressive strain on social ties, the impoverishment of solidarity relationships and the breakdown of the community spirit. The transformations that the world is experiencing have a significant impact on the public policies and social structure and are producing increased processes of social exclusion. Social exclusion is here referred to the structure of social relationship and social ties that reveals the mechanism causing marginalization and the processes associate with it. In post-modernity, as a result of processes of globalization processes and social and economic crisis, the social ties have become more fragile, and they are affecting the stability of society. Solidarity, common values, and a sense of community belonging keep society united by legitimising social institutions to carry out their function and providing citizens with ways of learning (and exercising) rights and duties. The strain on the social ties, which in turn produces new forms of personal and collective instability, also highlights a progressive disappearance of public and social spaces, it seems as if social fora, communication and inclusive communities are going through a radical crisis. The article presents the first results of a social inquiry carried out in four Italian cities through a psycho-social approach named Listening Post. This research's aim is to explore and understand (i) the underlying dynamics of the strained social ties are under, (ii) the impact of these dynamics on individual and collective action, (iii) the experiences of "counter-movement" as a process of bottom-up mobilization for social creativity and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the main evidence of a recent research carried out on six regions on the gap in the number of managers and executives within Southern Italian companies, along with the lack of managerial culture in the South of the country. In fact, the role of managers in the process of economic and social development is particularly relevant, although less explored by socio-economic literature which, in turn, draws greater attention to entrepreneurs as well as to economic and political élites. Instead, managers and executives represent a privileged bench for analysis in order to deeper understand the dynamics within firms, the elements of backwardness and innovation, the strengths and weaknesses related to the development of modern enterprises. In a context such as the Italian Mezzogiorno which seems to be refractory to innovation, the presence and diffusion of management may represent a significant element of modernization and confer, where present, an added value to the company, improving productivity and performance, also triggering virtuous processes of economic and social growth and development for the territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposed in this monographic issue aims to reflect on the process defined as "social construction of emotions": the possibility of modifying the emotional expressions and the feelings based on the context, the beliefs, the social and the cultural rules that characterize the environment in which we live and act. The sociological analysis will be produced by examining the feature film A particular day (directed by Ettore Scola). It is a sociological work characteristic of the sociology of emotions: the analysis of a media text (filmic, in this case) to critically explain a social process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show the peculiar role that George Herbert Mead's theory can play in understanding the social character of the emotions, with particular reference to the non-dualistic and anti-reductionist connotation of human conduct. The essay starts from two philosophical antecedents that exemplarily frame the relationship between emotions, intersubjectivity and normativity. These are the theoretical options of David Hume and Adam Smith. The hypothesis underlying this contribution is that the reflection on the link between emotions, intersubjectivity and normativity initiated by these two philosophers finds a more complete formulation in sociological terms in Mead's theory. Through the overall argumentation developed in the essay, an attempt will be made to show that in Mead - unlike Hume and Smith - moral consciousness is not discontinuous with respect to emotional consciousness, but that both represent phases of the same social process. The social character of the emotions is thus defined by reference to a common fabric of intersubjective character that binds together emotional consciousness and the more articulated dimensions of consciousness as phases of the same dynamic of human conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Contemporary society is changing by reason of technical, technological and social processes that are evolving faster than ever before. Thinking and designing with a Human Centered Design (HCD) approach means expanding the catchment area of the possible users of our product or service without losing specificity and relevance in terms of performance. It is necessary to conceive spaces, services and products that are able to adapt to the variable characteristics of the context, and which can dynamically respond to needs that vary in time for the same user base. The HC project assumes that an organized multidisciplinary approach has to be applied to identify a suitable, effective and articulated response for this scenario. The paper investigates application tools that can be useful to pursue the objectives of complex interdisciplinary projects. Some national and international researches carried out by the project team, supporting and using a HCD methodology will be specifically described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the new and problematic relationship between the media and individuals' visibility, as well as privacy in the new context of the Internet, by focusing on the process of transformation of both the public and private dimensions. A new style of Self-presentation/representation emerges in the digital communication ecosystem, which presents numerous risks due to online overexposure, to the logic of the show, typical of infotainment, and to the process of social windowing. In the society of platforms and fake news, it is necessary to redefine the social role of journalism and its limits, above all when connected to some sensitive issues of individuals' private sphere. At the same time, in relation to law and rights it seems essential to both develop useful tools and rules in order to defend individuals' Self-representation in the media and ensure everyone's right to be forgotten in contemporary planetary discursive spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse Norbert Elias' legacy in the sociology of sport, marked by the centrality of figurational theory in the tradition of this field of study. The typical features of this approach, also applied to sport analysis, are: the focus on figurations, that is on the networks of interdependence in the structuring of social phenomena; the idea of the processual character of social reality; the idea that social processes are the effect of the interconnection of unintentional actions; the importance of the power differential. On this theoretical basis Elias and his followers explore the relationship between civilization and sportization as fundamental ingredients of the definition of modern society and sports, analyse the role of sport as a site of emotional expression and harmless excitement in a social reality based on the routine control of emotions, seek in the study of hooliganism confirmation of the validity of the basic assumptions of figurational theory. A theory that has produced a wide and fervent debate in the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Girard’s ideas on the scapegoat. The aim of this paper is to identify some social and relational processes that transform a community into a place of violence and exclusion. Community studies highlight that community is ambivalent. Some scholars have proposed that the community is a social space of proximity, which responds to people’s need for identity, belonging and trust. Other scholars have observed that the community is a place of conflict, social control and violence. A sound research question is to understand what drives community towards violence. René Girard’s scapegoat theory identifies three fundamental mechanisms or strategies that leads community to violence: mimetic crisis, persecution and the spread of resentment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the impact of globalization and transnationalization processes on the concept of responsibility, as elaborated by modern legal tradition, in turn linking it to those of politicization and constitutionalization. It starts from the insight that a legal system can be considered as constitutionalized only if extra-institutional collective actors and functionally differentiated social processes establish in their internal operations forms of “ecological” responsibility, thus building their own internal politicization(s). In this regard, it is recalled that only in this way XX century’s constitutions gained actual effectiveness in extra-institutional social spheres. For the same reasons, by letting collective actors avoid responsibility, globalization and transnazionalization weakened their internal politicization, with an overall de-constitutionalizing effect. In order to rebuild an internal politicization of collective actors, legal theory must re-frame the concept of responsibility taking into account the social realities of post-modernity. This post-modern framework should shape legal responsibility with a view at strengthening both the openness and the obligation to the internal politicization by social actors. In such a scenario the law of responsibility should aim at sanctioning un-limited social processes and actors, as well as potentiating the social impulses coming from civil society. The paper finally discusses two case studies, namely Kasky v. Nike and Bruker v. Markovitz, in order to highlight the applications and outcomes of the proposed theoretical framework. [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.)

Max Weber's theory of domination is still capable of describing decisive aspects of contemporary political scenario and its populist dominant character. From Margaret Canovan to Paul Taggart, reference to charismatic authority systematically returns in the analysis of contemporary populism and its leadership. Within this relationship a determining factor is attributable to the process of mediatization of the social structure of charisma. The article therefore examines the centrality assumed by the media system for the staging of populist leaders' charismatic performances and for the shaping of their charismatic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of O Ideário Patrimonial is the property of Centro Transdisciplinar das Arqueologias do Instituto Politecnico de Tomar 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 author studies the ways in which immigrants coming from the mountains of Carnia - mainly weavers, tailors and shoemakers - settled in the peninsula of Istria during the 18th century. He locates the type of relationships they created with the local people, and the systems of transmission of heredity. More particularly, the inquiry is based on a systematic analysis of notarial archives from Friuli, on the notary protocols from Grisignana (Grožnjan) and on the parish birth registers kept in the State Archive of Pazin (Pisino). The confrontation between these documents with documents of other types and coming from different archives (held in Trieste, Udine and Venice), allowed the study of small-scale lending, the different forms of capital accumulation, as well as processes of social and economic advancement of some families. Finally, the study explains how, in just a few generations, the people from Friuli were able to create a tight network of patronage relationships and spiritual kinship with the locals. [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]

This paper focuses on three fundamental aspects: the economic and social transformations brought about by the processes of globalization; the effects of these processes on demographic dynamics and migratory flows; the analysis of the Roma question, with particular reference to the processes of social inclusion/exclusion. This threefold analytical dimension seems also necessary in order to investigate a particular aspect: if we isolate the Roma question from a more general analytical context, we risk incurring an interpretative mistake: the isolated phenomenon becomes an object of analysis in itself, its morphology is considered a priority (and, it can be said, an exclusive one) both for its explanation and for the search for possible solutions. The whole macrocosm, within which it is inserted, vanishes into the background, becoming analytically irrelevant and changing the Roma question into an emergency problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Punic chamber tombs are an ideological space under the exclusive management of family groups. In this matter the excavations of the Sulky necropolis between 1998 and 2008 are significant: the three types of funerary structures in Sulky (undivided chamber; bipartite chamber; free pillar chamber) are close to eminent families between 480 and 450 BCE. The main archaeological indicators of this development are related with the inner scenography of the chambers, with the presence of paintings, reliefs, sarcophagus and symposium ceremonies. In the course of the 5th and 4th centuries new indicators (crowed and undifferentiated burials, sporadic presence of jewelry, the lack or modesty of sets of funerary goods) testify to the inclusion of social strata others than elitarian ones and a process of social enlargement of the burial rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution we provide an overview of the linguistic history of the Albanian people taking both linguistic and social-cultural aspects into account. The historical and descriptive synthesis of Albanian linguistics will provide the background for understanding the competition between the Gheg and Tosk traditions, the old and culturally different Albanian minorities in Italy and Greece, and the role of linguistic standardization imposed by the communist totalitarian regime. As the title suggests, people's culture and identity must also be looked for in the vicissitudes of their linguistic heritage and its changes and reshaping in connection with social processes. Our aim is to explore these factors in the evolution of the Albanian language and its use in communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeing does not consist in the perception of optical input whose the mind proceeds to give meanings, but what we see is a world that endow social processes of meaning. This aspect has always been the missing what of the visual research in sociology and for this reason it has implicitly delegated to semiotics or cognitive psychology the question of meaning. Instead, it is primarily a sociological question. This essay suggests how ethnomethodology can offer rigorous research strategies for an analysis of "seeing" as a social phenomenon. The experience of seeing something is not so much an internal mind-brain process but rather an external process which is incorporated into courses of actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central topic of this paper is the role of the elementary school in the process of integration of the children of immigrants. The paper presents: a) the sociological approach through which A. Wimmer has profoundly changed the debate on integration; b) the main results of some empirical studies that have attempted to measure the ability of integration of the elementary school using the network analysis' approach; c) the methodology of our empirical research, which was aimed to investigate some of the characteristics of ties experienced in and out the class by the students attending the class V of the elementary schools of the Province of Trento, in classes composed for 25% or more of students with non-Italian citizenship; d) the main findings of the survey and some conclusions that confirm the validity of the approach used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La evolución del arte público a lo largo del siglo XX ha dado lugar, desde los años 60, a una especie de práctica de intervención en el ámbito urbano con una fuerte componente social y con intención participativa. Este documento presenta varios de estos proyectos en relación con el tipo y niveles de participattor, e intenta definir distintas tendencias. El documento se centra especialmente en el proyecto Cartografias de La Mina, desarrollado en Sant Adrià de Besòs (Barcelona) entre 2002 y 2005 por el Centro de Investigación POLIS de la Universidad de Barcelona.

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 present publication report the findings of a research carried out on issues of early childhood professionalism in some Italian province. The study, that is pre- dominantly qualitative, aims to investigate the relation between care practices and professional development within institutions. The research methodology used by all three contributions is all of a qualitative nature and is inspired by a problemati- cist/phenomenological approach. The following procedures were used to gather data: focus groups, questionnaires with open-ended questions and observations of conversational contexts. The first and second strategy, one immediately following on from the other, represented two phases of the research. This was followed by a third stage involving the socialisation of the collected data. [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 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]

Many historical city centers are changing their demographic composition and their urban planning at the same time. This paper analyzes Brescia's case study as an example of temporary urban transformation and investigates cohabitation between immigrant people, university students and other city users, focusing on specific strategies of public and private players who on the same «ground» are developing different processes and programmes, looking for a new prospective for the city. According to the authors the challenge of middle Italian cities is rethinking its urban policies in a more comprehensive perspective, able to take account of social, cultural, economical complexity as a critical success factor for city development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.)

This article shows that the use of video-recording of communication processes allows the researchers to build indicators which are very helpful for the evaluation of the concrete communication processes between the operators and the addressees in which the social intervention takes form empirically. In particular, this article discusses a specific case study, that is, the evaluation of a social intervention addressed to the promotion of the European citizenship among students of secondary schools in Modena. The video-recording of communication processes allows to build three key indicators for the evaluation of an intervention addressed to promote the social participation, that is: 1) the way in which operators set adolescents' expectations toward the intervention, 2) the measure in which operators' actually promote adolescents' agency in the interaction, besides the theoretical premises of the intervention, 3) the operators' ability in making use of conflict among adolescents as opportunity for the promotion of their active and creative participation in a crucial social process such as conflict management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.)