The essay, included in an international reading of cultural studies, is an historical account of persistence and transformation in Italian economy. The basic hypothesis is that the contemporary features of Italian economy are the long term outcome of cultural syndromes identified by anthropologists and historians in the Italian case study. Small size of industrial firms, regional dualism, and rent seeking strategies are long term characteristics that economic policies have been trying to address only recently. The account starts from XVI century, describing the Italian cultural matrix as defined by historian anthropologist Carlo Tullio-Altan. It develops through the late industrialization of the XIX century and the take-off of the Italian miracle in the XX century. It concludes with the contemporary worries about a supposed industrial decline, interpreted by the use of opinion polls of World Values Survey, that show at the same time the persistence of the cultural syndromes along with their erosion and transformation toward a slow but steady path of modernization.
Una carrellata storica alla ricerca delle persistenze e delle trasformazioni della economia italiana. La tesi di fondo è che le caratteristiche contemporanee della economia italiana sono il prodotto di lungo periodo delle più generali sindromi culturali presenti nella società italiana. Il nanismo industriale, il dualismo geografico e la caccia alla rendita sono persistenze di lungo periodo che solo recentemente si sta cercando di aggredire con politiche economiche basate su privatizzazione, competizione e liberalizzazione. Il saggio parte dal Cinquecento come origine della matrice culturale italiana sulla base della lezione dell'antropologo Tullio-Altan. Prosegue evidenziando le specificità del modello di sviluppo alla fine dell'Ottocento e del miracolo italiano dal secondo dopoguerra in poi. Si conclude infine con uno sguardo alle vicende contemporanee del declino industriale, interpretato attraverso le opinioni raccolte dalla World Values Survey. Tali opinioni confermano la tesi della persistenza delle sindromi culturali nazionali, pur in un quadro di cambiamento lento ma inesorabile verso la modernità.
The Long and Winding Road: The Italian Path to Modernization
MARINI, Matteo Benedetto
2006-01-01
Abstract
The essay, included in an international reading of cultural studies, is an historical account of persistence and transformation in Italian economy. The basic hypothesis is that the contemporary features of Italian economy are the long term outcome of cultural syndromes identified by anthropologists and historians in the Italian case study. Small size of industrial firms, regional dualism, and rent seeking strategies are long term characteristics that economic policies have been trying to address only recently. The account starts from XVI century, describing the Italian cultural matrix as defined by historian anthropologist Carlo Tullio-Altan. It develops through the late industrialization of the XIX century and the take-off of the Italian miracle in the XX century. It concludes with the contemporary worries about a supposed industrial decline, interpreted by the use of opinion polls of World Values Survey, that show at the same time the persistence of the cultural syndromes along with their erosion and transformation toward a slow but steady path of modernization.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
