STUDI DI SOCIOLOGIA - 2022 - 2

This paper examines the development of theory and practice at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), popularly known as the Birmingham School, through the conceptual lens of the term culture. During the Centre’s  management by Richard Hoggart, Stuart Hall, and Richard Johnson there is a move from literary analysis as social analysis towards a practical theorising that enables practitioners to work with popular forms of cultural production,  before exposing the hidden narratives of individuals before a cultural product in its creation and usage. Using Ann Cullis’ 1988 text Telling Tales: A semio/graphy of Birmingham as a case study, the Centre’s different approaches to  culture are shown to be interconnected and insightful in revealing dynamics of social exclusion and gendered use of space within the very city where the Centre was operative.

This paper seeks to analyse the space of reading by specifically targeting an adequate environment: the public library. Here, reading can be grasped in its social dimension and its multiform nature. Given that reading can be understood within the context of the public library, the very act of reading can be considered a decoding exercise within the library itself. This article explains some interpretative approaches that regard the public library as a dense  space by connecting heuristic possibilities offered through sociological knowledge and through the lens of the social imaginary. Moving from sociological implications of the public library and the awareness that the imaginary  reconfigures and synthesizes relationships and meanings between physical and literary spaces, the research will analyze the visible and invisible aspects of the field in which the library can be subject to social representation, while  still keeping its active character of producing meaning through literary spaces as well as through the exhibition and the organization of the library’s collections.

Active ageing is the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age (WHO 2002). This article aims at describing the diverse interventions that different actors  implemented in a city of Northern Italy for (partially) self-sufficient people aged 65 or over, in order to recognize the different reasonings that oriented them, with reference to the active ageing paradigm. To this aim we conducted  semi-structured interviews with representatives of public bodies and third sector associations who offer services for the elderlies. The analysis focused on the risks of exclusion and stigmatization of those who cannot or will not align  to the model of active ageing, and the role of this paradigm in increasing those risks.

The figure of the stranger was central to the ideas of sociologists of the Chicago school. Key among these works is the great tome, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1918-1920). After 100 years since the publication, this  research is still very actual and challenging. The study investigates the social figure of Polish emigrant, adopting a descriptive system that involves all the stages of the migration trajectory and the social processes that are at its  basis. The profile of the immigrant stranger takes shape as an individual divided between two cultures, caught in the balance between two identities that can only be reconciled through a long process. This precarious, yet unwieldy,  figure became a central theme of Florian Znaniecki’s research. In 1931, in “Przegląd Socjologiczny”, the oldest Polish sociological journal, of which he was a founder, he published Studia nad Antagonizmem do Obcych (1930-1931, 1,  2-4: 158-209) [Study on Antagonism towards Strangers]. Having returned to his home country, he seems to have been still immersed in the thinking of the grand project he undertook with W.I. Thomas.

This contribution focuses on a topic that has been rather neglected by studies and sociological research: the intergenerational transmission of wealth. The purpose is to illustrate i. the institutional, regulatory, economic and  demographic features that characterize the context of the succession; ii. the existing relationships between these characteristics and individual decisions regarding inheritance; iii. the emerging social effects. Particular attention has  been paid to Italy where some contextual conditions, for a long time overall favourable to hereditary transmission, are changing and, with them, are changing the actions implemented by the subjects and the general consequences  arising.

Over the centuries, Orthodox Christianity has developed conflictual experiences with respect to the main Western model of modernity. Recently, it has shown a complicated relationship with some of its phenomena such as human  rights. According to this backdrop, we explore the sociological nexus among religion, modernity and human rights within the case of Orthodox Christianity. We study the main paths of tension between Orthodoxy and the main  Western modern project, and then we focus on the Orthodox stances and churches’ approaches with respect to human rights. Examining the Orthodox official documents on both subjects, we recognise common Orthodox orientations and issues, besides some paths of religious change. In short, the study sheds light on a social research perspective focused on the nexus among religion, modernity and human rights, and emphasises the recent  Orthodox engagement with some facets of the modern project through the recognition of the paradigm of human rights.

The article shows the effect of the cultural dimension on participation. At first it describes democratic impasse caused by the disaffection of citizens, from political force. Two shortcuts are born: populism and plebiscitarism. Then it outlines some reasons: no guarantee of equality, change of party structure, involution of public opinion. Subsequently, the article observes the weight of culture through the comparison between the level of education of Italians and some dimensions of participation. Finally, this suggests some concepts of Karl Mannheim to qualify participation.

The paper examines the cyberbullying phenomenon coordinates and dimensions, devoting particular attention at Italian evolution context. It hypothesizes reading it as a distorted form of socialization process in the same vein of Bandura’s moral disengagement theoretical frame would be he best explanation of phenomenon. Accordingly the paper tries to outline indications and elements for effective contrast actions and strategies.

The article briefly presents the changing landscape produced by a society that is marched by a complexity in which all permanent structures such as family are heavily questioned. The pastoral practice of the Catholic Church in relation to what is regarded as «fundamental cell» is strongly conditioned by the search for answers suitable to the changes being made. The Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia of Pope Francis aims to propose magisterial guidelines to collect the instances pointed out by the two Synods on the family celebrated in 2014 and 2015. While the stability of relations is currently considered almost an archaic feature no longer presentable, the Church does not renounce to show the «beautiful and exciting» face of God’s blessed union.

Over the years traditional ties have weakened to a melting point: society itself has become liquid, ethically neutral. The individual is not always considered in his or her uniqueness and placed at the center of the many public policies, which are increasingly less rich in functional resources to achieve individual and collective well-being. Considering the necessity and indispensability of an active citizenship of rights, we can identify a trilogy of welfare: possible, sustainable and responsible. Their realization is made possible thanks to the Social Street, which starting from the use of a social network, such as facebook, represent a solution to a problem, that of the lack of neighborhood sociality. Social Street allows the transition from virtual to virtuous reality.

The paper discusses epistemological issues about major communalities and differences between Sociology and Social work’s styles of social research. Compared with conventional methods and contents of macro-sociological research, Social work is ideographical in essence, as micro «clinical » approaches in medicine and psychotherapy. The epistemological domain of Social work research focuses on existential vulnerabilities and severe social diseases where feelings, attitudes and coping capabilities of those human beings involved must to be entirely considered and taken into account. One of the most appropriate research style in Social work research (the participatory research) is briefly described and a possible typology of Social work studies’ contents is indicated.