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The massive diffusion of social media has produced disintermediation and it has changed the way in which users inform themselves and participate in public debate. On the other hand, users show a tendency to interact with information that adheres to personal choices and previous opinions. This propensity is “exploited” by algorithms that manage and sort communication on social media, increasingly producing a polarized audience. The essay shows the outcomes of these dynamics by focusing on the communications structure related to the pandemic. In this sense, social media constitute a risk because they convey out-of-control access to unreliable information and because they can result in the absence of correct information, if not in a problem for democracy. On the technical level, at least three complex reticular structures are identified that evolve following different directions, emerged from three sequentially monitored lemmas (no-mask, covid-19, greenpass). Further considerations concern the increasingly dense interweaving between online communication and the genesis of protest movements with evanescent, single-issue structures.

This study focuses on the analysis of contacts and communications on Twitter concerning pandemic policies. The goal is both show mobilization processes rising from the web and detect main actors, themes, and contents within the European context. Through a mixed method procedure, we tried to identify the main themes and most relevant communities, the main users, the most relevant topics and languages, and the underlined meanings and differences related to languages (as proxies of areas). Monitoring the communication on 3 main topics (“no-mask”, “covid-19”, “greenpass”), we noticed the weight of the gap between the government's attempts to communicate information motivating measures geared toward managing the crisis and the perceptions of private users. These perceptions spread through the web with such force the more the emotional, ironic, or polemical plane weighs. In this sense, online communication could be considered a tool for understanding the weight of the interaction between the institutional, social, and private dimensions, with effects on the social construction of identities. Digital communication is becoming an element of this process. The paper describes the “reassuring” role played by the digital community in the construction of ontological forms of security resulting from the construction of a shared digital culture. Results show the emergence of digital communities, structured on reference hubs and standing out from the detected phenomenon, prevalence of idioms and even language structures. The relevant role of the emotional (French), ironic (Italian), protest (English) component is confirmed, but also the changing and fluid structure of the debate and the co-presence of many parallel discussion communities.

We use EVS-WVS data to test our hypothesis about the contextual dependence of cohesion in Europe. In particular, we apply Bayesian Networks to describe the emergence of Social Cohesion in different welfare models. The creation of different networks for each Welfare model aims at demonstrating that a different way to manage Social Policies creates different paths of Social Cohesion. Political participations, civil engagement and positive social ties are fundamental dimensions, producing Social Capital, while social cohesion requires further dimensions too, as the presence of structural dynamics (equity, granted public services) and the increase in satisfaction. The mechanisms detected are similar enough from different areas, with interesting specificities for Mediterranean, Social-Democratic and Post-communist models.

This study proposes an analysis on the theme of gender differences with respect to participation in political and social life. Specifically, it takes into account the findings of traditional, revisionist and radical studies, proposing an updated and gender sensitive interpretation. In this way, we can distinguish between cause, civic and campaign oriented forms of participation, selecting among the different types and classifications proposed by studies oriented to the analysis of female involvement. The hypotheses proposed refer to the possible effects of the availability of resources (time, money, education), socialization (children, marriage, religion, divorce), motivations (trust, self-direction, information) and values (materialist, solidal, liberalist ethics). Moreover, the dynamics linked to opportunities and contextual constraints are kept under control, specifically linked to welfare policies and availability of resources to guarantee equity. A further hypothesis concerns effects that discriminate not only with respect to gender but also with reference to the mechanisms of mobilization. The analyses, carried out with data from the wave 2018 of the European Social Survey, demonstrate the substantial validity of the hypotheses and, in particular, differences emerge with respect to the type of participation and strong impact of contextual dynamics. Finally, partial confirmations of differences in mobilisation mechanisms with respect to gender emerge.

The paper highlights the dynamics related to the problem of the integration of immigrants in Europe, focusing on the spread of prejudices and on the multiple conditions of exclusion. The main aim refers to the effectiveness of integration policies implemented in Europe. For this purpose, data from different sources are analysed to measure the degree of hostility versus tolerance towards foreign immigrants, both through official data and with the analysis of online comments published on Twitter during the period of European elections.

During the twentieth century, theoretical and empirical studies aimed to analyse changes in individual participation and in social and political dynamics. A great emphasis was attributed to the process of individualization. Young people were described as a generation with a limited political involvement, especially considering traditional forms of political participation, but more and more likely to search an “individualized” way towards the participation. Furlong and Cartmel bring back the youth identity to the thesis about the reflexive rebuilding of identity, according to which the individualization is a process due to some structural characteristics of post-industrial society. Employing data from European Values Study researches, we test if and how structural variables and contextual dynamics affect political involvement and its changes, with particular attention on youth involvement. Actually, participation takes the form of a multifaceted reality and youth individual profiles are heterogeneous. The process of individualization has, in this sense, different effects and various consequences on participation’s profiles. According to these considerations, this analysis shows the incidence of structural, contextual and cognitive dimensions on individual choices to participate, focusing on longitudinal plan and cohorts. A second step compares the causal importance of structural and cognitive dimension on different typologies of involvement.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the propensity for social cohesion of young Italians. Our hypothesis is that – since the 1990s – young people in Italy have exhibited a lack of social cohesion. Young people who have grown up in post-modern society have had to adapt to individualistic effects of flexible jobs, globalization and ethical relativism. These generations have been defined as flexible generations. This analysis aims at verifying this hypothesis by means of an empirical study. Social cohesion is defined as a multi-dimensional concept with a subjective, an objective and a relational dimension. The subjective dimension concerns feelings about society and institutions. The objective dimension concerns individual propensity towards participation. The relational dimension concerns the typology of important ties/nets selected. An analysis of national and local data shows that young people present a lack of relational cohesion that which over a long period of time can damage the other dimensions of social cohesion. This condition seems accentuated by the current economic crisis.

This study analyzes the relationship between theoretical models of European integration and inclusion or exclusion of immigrants. The main hypothesis is that relations are key in understanding and explaining differences between material and formal integration, including propensity towards social involvement and focusing on the acquisition of citizenship. Data collected in an Italian local context are applied for an in-depth analysis.

This article is available on the website of the old publisher Franco Angeli ( http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.asp?IDRivista=152 )

This article is available on the website of the old publisher Franco Angeli ( http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.asp?IDRivista=152 )

This study analyzes changes in political participation among Italian youth. The main hypothesis is that relations are key in understanding and explaining the propensity towards social involvement and political participation. We used both official data and data collected through a survey representing almost all the Italian regions. An interesting aspect of this analysis is that it explains how youth participation can increase despite the mistrust in the institutions.

Il declino della partecipazione civica e politica è un fenomeno divenuto sempre più consistente negli ultimi anni, costituendo il trend principale di coinvolgimento dei giovani europei. Il limitato impegno potrebbe essere bilanciato da nuovi canali per lo sviluppo della partecipazione giovanile? E quali misure possono essere prese per ostacolare o invertire questo trend? Sembra che anche i giovani interessati alla politica mostrino, oggi, una scarsa propensione alla partecipazione attiva. Il lavoro condotto mira ad investigare le cause sociali e culturali di questa crisi intergenerazionale, analizzando anche l’incidenza di fenomeni contestuali quali crisi economica, valoriale ed istituzionale.