Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T02:53:40.549Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Undisciplined, selfish big babies? The cultural framing of the Italian financial crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2018

Luca Storti ,
Joselle Dagnes  and
Javier González Díez
Luca Storti*
Affiliation:
Department of Culture, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Joselle Dagnes*
Affiliation:
Department of Culture, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Javier González Díez*
Affiliation:
National University of Education of Ecuador (UNAE), Azogues, Ecuador
*
*Emails: luca.storti@unito.it; joselle.dagnes@unito.it; javier.gonzalez@unae.edu.ec
*Emails: luca.storti@unito.it; joselle.dagnes@unito.it; javier.gonzalez@unae.edu.ec
*Emails: luca.storti@unito.it; joselle.dagnes@unito.it; javier.gonzalez@unae.edu.ec
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the public debate played out in the media, the financial crisis in Italy is often depicted through a culturalist frame; the country’s difficulties are traced deterministically to an ethos, supposedly widespread among Italians, of amoral familism and a limited sense of civic engagement. This paper illustrates three issues that exemplify the country’s financial problems, and which are often seen through this type of culturalist lens: i) a lack of discipline in managing public finances; ii) a lack of interest in co-operation caused by the excessive importance given to family ties; iii) a lack of agency from the people involved, symbolised by a reluctance to leave home and to adopt an intense pace of work. Considering the relevant literature and various statistics, we show that a culturalist approach helps to spread a stereotyped and misleading view of these three issues. Instead, we suggest that a more accurate reading of the situation, and more stimulating when it comes to public debate, can be obtained by observing the way individuals adapt to the limitations and opportunities of the context in which they operate.

Keywords

Amoral familismcivic cultureculturalismpublic debateeconomic decline in Italy
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 51 - 67
Copyright
© 2018 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Abbott, A. 2004. Methods of Discovery. Heuristic for the Social Sciences. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Abravanel, R. 2013. Meritocrazia. Milan: Garzanti.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., and Robinson, J.A. 2013. Why Nations Fail: The Origin of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. New York: Crown Business.Google Scholar
Albertini, M., and Kohli, M. 2013. ‘The Generational Contract in the Family: An Analysis of Transfer Regimes in Europe’. European Sociological Review 29 (4): 828–840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, A., and Ichino, A. 2009. L’Italia fatta in casa. Milan: Mondadori.Google Scholar
Almond, G.A., and Verba, S. 1963. The Civic Culture. Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bagnasco, A. 1998. La costruzione sociale del mercato. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Bagnasco, A. 2008. Ceto Medio. Come e perché occuparsene. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Bagnasco, A. 2012. Taccuino sociologico. Rome: Laterza.Google Scholar
Banfield, E.C. 1958. The Moral Basis of a Backward Society. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Barbagli, M. 1984. Sotto lo stesso tetto. Mutamenti della famiglia in Italia dal XV al XX secolo. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Bevilacqua, P. 1986. ‘Questione meridionale e storia del Mezzogiorno’. Passato e presente 12:3–10.Google Scholar
Bigoni, M., Bortolotti, S., Casari, M., Gambetta, D., and Pancotto, F. 2015. ‘Amoral Familism, Social Capital, or Trust? The Behavioural Foundations of the Italian North-South Divide’. Economic Journal 126 (594): 1318–1341.Google Scholar
Boudon, R., and Bourricaud, F. 1991. Dizionario critico di Sociologia. Rome: Armando.Google Scholar
Brunetta, R. 1995. Sud. Alcune idee perché il Mezzogiorno non resti com’è. Rome: Donzelli.Google Scholar
Busso, S., and Storti, L. 2013. ‘Social cohesion and economic development: some reflections on the Italian case’. Modern Italy 18 (2): 197–217.Google Scholar
Coleman, J.S. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Colli, A. 2002. Il quarto capitalismo. Un profilo italiano. Venice: Marsilio.Google Scholar
Cross, M., and Ma, X. 2015. ‘EU Crises and Integrational Panic: The Role of the Media’. Journal of European Public Policy 22 (8): 1053–1070.Google Scholar
CSRI. 2013. Global Wealth Databook 2013. Zurich: Credit Suisse Research Institute.Google Scholar
Dalla Zuanna, G. 2001. ‘The Banquet of Aeolus: A familistic interpretation of Italy’s lowest low fertility’. Demographic Research 4:133–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamanti, I., Ramella, F., and Trigilia, C. 1995. Cultura e sviluppo. L’associazionismo nel Mezzogiorno. Rome: Donzelli.Google Scholar
Doudaki, V., Boubouka, A., Spyridou, L., and Tzalavras, C. 2016. ‘Dependency, (non)liability and austerity news frames of bailout Greece’. European Journal of Communication 31 (4): 426–445.Google Scholar
Ferragina, E. 2011. ‘Il fantasma di Banfield: Una verifica empirica della teoria del familismo amorale’. Stato e mercato 92 (2): 283–312.Google Scholar
Filandri, M. 2015. Proprietari a tutti i costi. La disuguaglianza abitativa in Italia. Rome: Carocci.Google Scholar
Franzini, M., and Pianta, M. 2015. Explaining inequality. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Filandri, M, Nazio, T., and O’Reilly, J. 2016. ‘Youth Transitions and Job Quality: How long should they wait and what difference does the family make?’ Style working paper WP8.2, CROME, University of Brighton, Brighton.Google Scholar
Filandri, M., and Bertolini, S. 2016. ‘Young People and Home-ownership in Europe’. International Journal of Housing Policy 16 (2): 1–21. doi: 10.1080/14616718.2015.1130606.Google Scholar
Fubini, F. 2016. ‘Italia-Germania, il deficit e il paradosso del saldo primaro’. Corriere della Sera, 16 August.Google Scholar
Ginsborg, P. 2010. Salviamo l’Italia. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Fullin, G., and Reyneri, E. 2015. ‘Half a Century of First Jobs for Youth. For a Story of the Italian Labour Market’. Stato e mercato 35 (3): 419–468.Google Scholar
Gaggio, D. 2007. ‘Come ripensare il ruolo della cultura nella storia economica’. Contemporanea 10 (4): 709–714.Google Scholar
Gribaudi, G. 1993. ‘Familismo e famiglia a Napoli e nel Mezzogiorno’. Meridiana 17:13–42.Google Scholar
Gribaudi, G. 1994. ‘Il paradigma del “familismo amorale”’. In Fra storia e storiografia. Scritti in onore di Pasquale Villani, edited by P. Macry, and A. Massafra, 337–353. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Kertzer, D.I. 2007. ‘Banfield, i suoi critici e la cultura’. Contemporanea 10 (4): 701–709.Google Scholar
Krugman, P. 2008. The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Lupo, S. 2016. La questione. Rome: Donzelli.Google Scholar
MEF. 2016. Relevant factors influencing Debt Developments in Italy. http://www.mef.gov.it/inevidenza/documenti/Note_on_relevant_factors_Italy.pdf, accessed November 2017.Google Scholar
Michailidou, A. 2016. ‘“The Germans are back”: Euroscepticism and anti-Germanism in crisis-stricken Greece’. National Identities doi: 10.1080/14608944.2015.1113242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michailidou, A., and Trenz, H.J. 2015. ‘The European crisis and the media: Media autonomy, public perceptions and new forms of political engagement’. In Europe’s Prolonged Crisis: the Unmaking of Political Union , edited by H.J. Trenz, C. Ruzza, and V. Guiraudon, 232–250. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Minicuci, M. 2003. ‘Antropologi e Mezzogiorno’. Meridiana 47–48:139–174.Google Scholar
Mylonas, Y. 2012. ‘Media and the Economic Crisis of the EU: The “Culturalization” of a Systemic Crisis and Bild-Zeitung’s Framing of Greece’. Triple C 10 (2): 646–671.Google Scholar
Negri, N., and Filandri, M., eds. 2010. Restare di ceto medio. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
OECD. 2016. Government at a Glance 2015. http://www.oecd.org/gov/govataglance.htm.Google Scholar
Pezzino, P. 1987. ‘Mezzogiorno e potere locale. Analisi classiche e revisioni storiografiche’. Rivista di Storia Contemporanea 16 (4): 587–615.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Radcliffe, S. A., ed. 2006. Culture and Development in a Globalizing World: Geographies, Actors and Paradigms. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ramella, F. 2013. Sociologia dell’innovazione economica. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Reher, D.S. 1998. ‘Family Ties in Western Europe: Persistent Contrasts’. Population and Development Review 24 (2): 203–234.Google Scholar
Risse, T., ed. 2014. European Public Spheres: Politics is Back. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosina, A., and Sorgi, S. 2016. Il futuro che non c’è. Milan: UBE.Google Scholar
Saraceno, C. 2005. ‘Il paradosso riproduttivo di una società a famiglia forte: il caso della bassa fecondità in Italia’. La Questione Agraria 1:7–28.Google Scholar
Saraceno, C., and Naldini, M. 2007. Sociologia della famiglia. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Sciarrone, R. 2009. Mafie vecchie, mafie nuove. Rome: Donzelli.Google Scholar
Sciolla, L. 1997. Italiani. Stereotipi di casa nostra. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Sciolla, L. 2004. La sfida dei valori. Rispetto delle regole e rispetto dei diritti in Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Sciolla, L. 2013. ‘Quando sono le istituzioni a generare sfiducia’. Sistemi Intelligenti 1:164–172.Google Scholar
Sciolla, L., and Negri, N., eds. 1996. Il paese dei paradossi. Le basi sociali della politica in Italia. Rome: NIS.Google Scholar
Signorelli, A. 2001. ‘Famiglie e familismo: un sistema collaudato di protezione’. Parolechiave 22:357–375.Google Scholar
Skopek, N., Bucholz, S., and Blossfeld, H.P. 2014. ‘National Patterns of Income and Wealth Inequality’. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 55 (6): 463–487.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J. 2010. Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Streeck, W. 2015. ‘L’egemonia tedesca che la Germania non vuole’. Il Mulino 4:601–613.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, A., Wodak, R., and Krzyżanowski, M., eds. 2009. The European Public Sphere and the Media: Europe in Crisis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Trigilia, C. 1995. ‘Dinamismo privato e disordine pubblico’. In Il paese dei paradossi. Le basi sociali della politica in Italia, edited by N. Negri, and L. Sciolla, 147–192. Rome: NIS.Google Scholar
Trigilia, C. 2012. Non c’è Nord senza Sud. Perché la crescita italiana si decide nel Mezzogiorno. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Van Ark, B., O’Mahony, M., and Timmer, M.P. 2008. ‘The productivity gap between Europe and the United States: trends and causes’. The Journal of Economic Perspectives 22 (1): 25–44.Google Scholar
Viazzo, P.P. 2010. ‘Strutture demografiche e regioni culturali in Europa: considerazioni sull’approccio macro-regionale allo studio di famiglia e parentela’. In Scelte di famiglia. Tendenze della parentela nella società contemporanea, edited by S. Grilli, and F. Zanotelli, 27–43. Pisa: ETS.Google Scholar
Viazzo, P.P., and González Díez, J. 2016. ‘Les “nouvelles formes de famille” en Italie: convergences morphologiques et persistances culturelles’. Ethnologie française XLV (2): 219–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visconti, C. 2016. La mafia è dappertutto. Falso!. Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar

Data sources

Eurostat. 2016. Eurostat, your key to European Statistics, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database, accessed November 2017.Google Scholar
Istat. 2015. Noi Italia: 100 statistiche per capire il Paese in cui viviamo. Edizione 2015. Available at http://noi-italia.istat.it/, accessed November 2017.Google Scholar
Istat. 2016. Noi Italia: 100 statistiche per capire il Paese in cui viviamo. Edizione 2016. Available at http://noi-italia.istat.it/, accessed November 2017.Google Scholar