Presentation of the book “Social Classes in Italy Today”

Tuesday, January 21, 2025 – h. 11.30

Sala Misiti – CNR-IRPPS, via Palestro 32, Rome

Teams live link (Passcode: Z8ie9bm2)

Pier Giorgio Ardeni is a professor of Political and Development Economics at the University of Bologna.

(Book and author profile) Social Classes in Italy Today (Editori Laterza) describes the social differences that remain strong and distinct in Italy, where they limit social mobility, access to education, possibilities, and opportunities. Of course, classes are no longer what they once were because professions and lifestyles have changed, but they still exist, even after we were convinced that they had dissolved in our ‘liquid’ society.
These pages, following step by step how the class structure in Italy has evolved and quantifying the weight of various strata and groups as their characteristics and composition change, aim to show how inequalities in income distribution correspond to differences in profession and educational qualifications, and how social structure still influences power relations. The relative weight of classes has varied, and with it their ‘political’ weight within the channels of representation. A book that aims to demonstrate how classes still exist, indeed, and it is from these that we must start again to rethink the crisis of democracy and representation.