Italy, a people of poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scientists, navigators and transmigrators: these qualities - enunciated by Mussolini at the time of the colonial conquests - have remained in social representation, as well as engraved in the marble of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in EUR. Others, before and after him, have highlighted further aspects, now positive, now negative, that have tried to describe Italians. Beyond the assessments that can be made, the most important aspect is linked to the construction of a collective imagery with which one can recognise and identify oneself. Constructing the representation of a collective, rather than of a territory or a product takes on a qualifying aspect today, even more than in the past. To affirm an idea, a project, to indicate a direction to follow, it is necessary to equip oneself with a common horizon, with shared meanings. It is sufficient to refer to how much effort companies devote to imposing the brand of their products to understand how the construction of an identity is today a strategic economic objective.
La Stampa, p. 35, 27 June 2016
But it is equally strategic from a political and social point of view. In a complex reality such as ours, traversed by globalisation processes and in which reference points have lost their traditional anchorage, it is crucial to offer elements of definition. All the more so if we consider the history of our country, which achieved unity just over 150 years ago, in which municipalism and localism were the founding features. In which social particularisms and corporatism still mark large sections of our society. We need only think of what happens when we try to change the rules - by opening up sectors of the economy to the market: from pharmacists, to taxi drivers, via the professional associations, all ready to go up on the barricades in order to preserve so-called acquired rights by virtue of specificities that have now faded in significance. How we describe ourselves, what traits define our fellow citizens - and therefore ourselves - is the subject of the survey carried out by Community Media Research, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, for La Stampa.
At first glance, a profile emerges whose prevailing trait emphasises the individualistic and family dimension. The particulareclosure to the personal sphere and specific interests. As if we struggle to look beyond our visual perimeter. Failing to identify a broader projectuality or what we might call a 'common good' that goes beyond our own life-worlds. In the survey we say this about others, but it is not incorrect to think that this is a projection of what we experience subjectively. These results tend to confirm the stereotype that characterises the average image of Italians and only paradoxically clashes with the concrete gestures of openness and outbursts of solidarity that, instead, we observe when particular events occur, as in the case of migrants, rather than climate disasters or volunteering. Which are there, widespread and participated, the fruit of a social and value capital that is fundamental for the resilience of our country. And that paradoxically we are surprised that they can be there, when instead they should be the norm. The issue is that such gestures do not (yet) fit within shared and systematic projects, because they are based on the individual impetus, of small communities organised in the territories or in the associative worlds. Basically, they are the fruit of do-it-yourself, of micro-projects that are constructed - while waiting for a broader design, which, after all, we do not believe will ever arrive in the short term - to address the problems that emerge from time to time. So, precisely for these reasons, we represent ourselves as individualists (32.4%), attentive only to family interests (25.2%), but also hard-working (22.0%), capable of doing and commitment.
There is, however, a second element that emerges clearly: the diversity of perceptions on a territorial scale. The particularistic and familistic dimension is accentuated as we move down from the North to the South of the country, where there is also an acknowledgement of the fact that there is a greater propensity to seek advantages for oneself, resorting to favouritism even in a non-legal manner. Thus, not only do we have a not very collective and very familistic-communal imagery, but once again we find a diversification within the country that makes it even more complicated to identify a unifying representation. Summing up the characteristics assigned on the basis of importance, we can see how a negative representation prevails towards one's fellow citizens: just over half (52.7%) attribute only unfavourable aspects, particularly among residents in the South (72.8%). These are contrasted by those who highlight not only negative but also positive aspects (32.4%) and those who see only positive traits (14.9%), particularly among those living in the North.
So, will we remain ineluctably familistic and particularistic? Cultural latencies cannot be eliminated with the stroke of a pen; they take a long time. Above all, planning and policies that have long-term coherence and vision. Equipped with an idea and values that are shared and that value - without fear - the diversities and peculiarities of a composite country like Italy. In the knowledge that only in a common planning does space exist for the individual and family good.
Daniele Marini
Methodological note
Community Media Research, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo for La Stampa, carried out the LaST (Laboratory on Society and Territory) survey, which was conducted nationwide from 22 March to 4 April 2016 on a representative sample of the population resident in Italy, aged over 18. The methodological aspects and the survey were taken care of by the company Quantitas. The total number of respondents was 1,997 (out of 13,287 contacts). The data analysis was reproportioned on the basis of gender, territory, age group, occupational status and educational qualification. The margin of error is +/-2.2%. The survey was carried out with a visual survey through the main social networks and with a random sample that could be reached with the CAWI and CATI systems. Full document on www.agcom.it e www.communitymediaresearch.it.
