STUDI DI SOCIOLOGIA - 2010 - 1

Beginning with a critical examination of F. Nietzsche’ and M. Scheler’s account of individualistic and vitalistic resentment, this paper considers the emotional patterns of resentment in everyday interactions and in social relationships characterized by inequality, in the context of modernity. Resentment is a feeling experienced by social actors when an external agency denies them opportunities or valued resources (including status) that are socially represented as available to them. Such feeling inheres simultaneously in the social structures and relationships in which social actors are embedded. Arising from social relationships, resentment depends on the wider set of relations, that constitutes the social framework in which the agent plays his part. This analytic perspective puts forward the hypothesis that resentment is always socially situated and therefore it does not arise from psychological dynamics as generally considered, but from interactive and social dynamics. In the contemporary societies, social actors have growing possibility of individual choice, but they are unable to promote the conditions of equal opportunity required in order to achieve them. An increasingly ambitious and mimetic desire clashes with a selective and competitive reality. As a consequence, a widespread and deep resentment is embedded in everyday social life. Key words: social theory, emotion, resentment, social relationship, inequality.

The concept of expectation allows multifold applications in the social theory and in the social research as well, as individual and social expectations are implicit reference concepts of social action. The article proposes to turn social expectations to better account as motivational and explanatory factors of individual and collective attitudes and behaviors, and shows the usefulness of expectations as a tool for overcoming the opposition between objective and subjective concerns in the empirical sociology. An application of expectations has been done in an empirical research about university students and their parents. The multidimensional data analysis shows that juvenile expectations come out in part from an intergenerational construction process, that the different clusters evaluate differently the achievement, and that expectations are determinant factors of motivations and social action, whilst the concept of self-esteem is being scaled down. Key words: young, expectations, motivations, self-esteem, achievement.

Why do roboticists not content themselves with constructing useful machines, rather than also trying to endow them with anthropomorphic forms, even at the risk of compromising their functionality? What drives them to cover their machines with a latex coating to simulate human skin? The utopia of the creation of a «double» appears also in the world of art, the history of which shows, above all, an outcome that coincides with the abandonment of the naturalistic imperative, and the inauguration of various periods of exploration and innovation. That is why roboaesthetics – i.e., robotics and aesthetics combined – could give rise to a new scenario which, acknowledging the radical novelty of the «species» introduced, would induce the adoption of a new observation level, constructed on the basis of a common project. Key words: imitation, art, robotics, roboaesthetics, natural, artificial.

When analysing the concept of social relationship, the link between a person and an individual, who from a sociological perspective do not have the same semantic value, needs to be reconsidered as whole. As an individual is typically enclosed in a social dimension, it cannot have a self-referential character. Instead, it tends to half-reveal the authentic foundation of the civil society on the basis of a range of values which, after leading to the recognition of the self, activate relationships with the social other and the rest of the world including the transcendental one. In fact, within the opening relationship it’s possible to find the conscience of own existence, to purchase the awareness of own identities and to become responsible of own world of life. Considering the aspects of sociological compromise and moral quality of the afore-going, it is clear that socio-cultural exchanges – where relationship skills come clearly into play – are the heuristic foundation of the complex relationship between individuals and society. Consequently, such exchanges become social dynamics through which affective similarities and legitimate differences interact to build an ethical balance for society as well as support a differentiated development of social bonds. Key words: person, social relationship, ethics, conscience.

The article aims to contribute to the debate concerning the value and potential of using internet as a social research tool, investigating if the mere transfer of traditional survey methodological procedures to an online setting would be sufficient or, instead, it would need to be modified in order to realize a web survey. Showing the structure and main peculiarities of two online questionnaires concerning evaluation activities of an adult training course (with samples of over 15.000 learners and nearly one thousand e-tutors), the article analyses advantages and drawbacks of online methodology compared to the standard «paper-format» survey. Facing methodological issues (like sampling procedures, generalizability of the results, statistical representativeness, data and answers quality, tool personalization) the study shows some elements (objectives of research, population, target) through which the use of an online setting would lead to better results in comparison with a traditional questionnaire. Key words: web survey, internet research methods, questionnaire methodology, Computer Assisted Data Collection, data quality.