L'idéologie néolibérale

The article aims to demonstrate the deeply ideological character of neo-liberalism. Therefore it begins recalling the three main elements of ideology: its theoretical element as an encompassing and cohesive discourse; its pragmatic element as a program of actions, may they be political, moral, ethic, pedagogic, etc., on social reality; its apologetic element as justification and even idealisation of the situation, the interests, the actions or the projects of a certain social group. Next, the article shows that one can find those three elements in neo-liberalism. So it first emphasises its consistency based on the representation of the individual as the atom of social reality with its three major attributes: private property, liberty and equality in front of law. Secondly, it stresses the efficiency of the neo-liberal politics against the interventionist state built after World War 2 and all kinds of non-merchant regulations of the salary relationship in order to promote a ‘society of individuals’. Finally, it highlights that neo-liberalism is merely the justification of financial fraction of capital’s interests which has conquered a hegemonic position among the bourgeoisie within the globalisation.

Donne al lavoro in Italia tra parità formale e disparità sostanziale

The contribution aims to articulate in critical terms the condition of women in Italy, in light of the recent transformations that have affected the welfare state and labour market. In particular, the attention has been paid to the more hidden aspects of the recent reforms implemented by Italian governments, concerning the relation between care work and social and material changes. The casualization of labour among young women is producing a postponement of the reproductive choices while among older ones, especially the unskilled ones, it is producing a returning as a full-time housewives, with all the implications that this dynamic has in terms of loss of emancipation and autonomy. For many women the impossibility to balance work and personal life is leading to their exclusion from the labour market. The reflections developed in this paper aim to highlight the process of invisibilization that continues to mark the reproductive work and the consequences that this process has on the reproduction of class and gender inequalities.

La grande crisi della ‘civiltà del denaro’

Luciano Gallino has been one of the very few scholars of social sciences to realize how deep the last general crisis was. In a series of remarkable books he describes the crisis as a big crisis, a double crisis, both financial and ecological, the crisis of ‘money’s civilization’. In the last period of this research work Gallino’s criticism of capitalist system has become truly radical. One of the specific issues he has increasingly focused on is the so-called job flexibility, which he sees more and more - in time of crisis - as a deceptive word to cover precariousness, the increasing precarity of life of millions of young, and not only young, workers.

La crescita strutturale delle disuguaglianze nell'era neo-liberista

The dramatic growth of inequalities is one of the main social issues of our times and one of the main features of the neo-liberal era. This essay aims at proving that such growth is structural and functional to the current phase of capitalism; it analyses the main trends of such process, focusing on the globalization of the social polarization within the Countries, and it examines the manifold causes at the roots of the growth of inequalities.

Stato, potere e democrazia nel finanzcapitalismo

The aim of the essay is to reconstruct in a detailed way Luciano Gallino’s analysis of the transformations of democracy generated by the emergence of what he called ‘finanzcapitalismo’ and the great crash of 2007-2008. Furthermore, the essay considers Gallino’s enquiry into the role played by the State in the transition from the industrial regime of accumulation to the financial one. Finally, the essay examines Gallino’s stance about the role played by the European Union during the recent economic crisis and the prospects of democracy within the Western world.

L’irresistibile ascesa degli stage e le sue conseguenze

From a historical point of view, job insecurity is a structural feature of the wage condition. The uninterrupted growth and the increasing stabilisation of the working conditions that the West experienced between the ’50s to the ’70s of the twentieth century are an exception limited in space and time. The neoliberal globalisation has put an end to this ‘exceptional period’ and the policies adopted to counteract the effects of the crisis erupted in 2008 are bringing out new forms of precariousness, including internships and job placements. This paper analyses the policies adopted by the European Union within the education and vocational training field since the second half of the ’90s and demonstrates how these policies have led to a real explosion of the internships phenomenon, especially after the beginning of the crisis in 2008. Moreover, it shows how the internships have contributed to devalue the workforce as a whole through the dissemination of new forms of precariousness based on unpaid work.