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Labour Sociology in Italy: Resisting Erosion Through Transformation and Dynamism

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Sociology of Work in Europe

Abstract

The chapter outlines the main socio-political transformations which have occurred in Italy since the Second World War and their impact on the sociology of work as part of labour sociology and/or industrial sociology. It sheds light on the historical foundations and the evolution of the sociology of work by distinguishing between three different periods (i.e. 1945–70s, 1970s–1980s and from the late 1980s onwards) and identifies its main themes and disciplinary specificity while confronting the question of cross-boundary fertilization with other disciplines in the social sciences, particularly gender studies and labour relations. The resulting sociology of labour which has evolved is dynamic and distinctive, occurring in a period in Italy characterized by important institutional and political changes, which have followed the continuing transformation of capitalism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We will have to wait till 1960 to have sociology been tough at the university. It was at the Congress of the Italian Association of Social Sciences (Associazione Italiana di Scienze Sociali) held in Ancona in 1962 that the position of sociology and of sociologists were clearly defined.

  2. 2.

    1980–82 witnessed the formation of the Italian Association of Sociology (Associazione Italiana di Sociologia). Within a clear organizational and statutory form, it brought systematization and institutionalization to sociology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sociological Research (CESO), KU Leuven, Louvain, Belgium

    Valeria Pulignano

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  1. Valeria Pulignano
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Correspondence to Valeria Pulignano .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sociology of Work and Employment, Département Homme Organisation et Société (DFR HOS), Grenoble Ecole de Management, ComUE Universite de Rhone-Alps, Grenoble, France

    Paul Stewart

  2. University d’Évry Paris-Saclay, Évry, France

    Jean-Pierre Durand

  3. University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Maria-Magdalena Richea

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Pulignano, V. (2019). Labour Sociology in Italy: Resisting Erosion Through Transformation and Dynamism. In: Stewart, P., Durand, JP., Richea, MM. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Sociology of Work in Europe . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93206-4_4

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