The themes of local growth and social planning, always the centre of sociological reflection and
research, are tackled in diachronic perspective through theoretical and methodological considerations
and explanatory examples that, beginning from the Enlightenment paradigm, succeed to outline
the existing and potential planning scenarios, connected to relational patterns of participation
in management. The essay proposes different social-historical analysis, related to the origin and the
development of local communities on territory, and it tries to explain them, combining their creation,
the most of time utopian, with the social planning processes. In this context the sociologist is
qualified as a professional researcher who participates to planning, indispensable in identifying and
describing meaningful leading indicators of development process in their relational evolution.
Festive time has many significant meanings in European traditions: the observation of the
cosmos and of cycle of human life, the need for identity and the renewal of the social pact among living individuals. Festive time is therefore a traditional institution in which the community
periodically celebrates its desire of unity and happiness.
The issue of social order, how and why it is that social orders exists at all, is historically central
to sociology. In this paper the focus is on the comparison between Parsons’ and Garfinkel’s
point of view. Parsons regards social order as the outcome of value consensus in society, which
ensures that behavior conforms to generally accepted norms. Garfinkel starts out with the
assumption that social order is illusory. They believe that social life merely appears to be orderly;
in reality it is potentially chaotic. Social order is constructed in the minds of social actors as
society confronts the individual as a series of sense impressions and experiences which she or he
must somehow organize into a coherent pattern. The differences seem to be less looking at the
concept of social order and trust together as a common theoretical outcome.
This article aims to provide a short digression, without claims for completness, about different
opportunities of analysing the material coming from biographic interviews. Of course these
possibilities of analysis could be also applied to other material of qualitative kind. Therefore we
have tried to provide an epistemological overview of the methods more frequently used in this
field. Furthermore, we have tried to give some specific examples, as far as possible, about the
techniques adopted in each method, with a critical review.
Intervista a Patrizia Catellani e Valentina Carfora, autrici di "Psicologia sociale dell'alimentazione", per capire meglio le nostre scelte alimentari.