96315 - DISUGUAGLIANZE E MARGINALITA'

Learning outcomes

The course aims at analysing and exploring the processes of marginalisation and reproduction of social inequalities. By the end of the course, students will acquire theoretical and empirical knowledge (through case studies and examples) to understand and analyse, also from a critical perspective, the processes of production and reproduction of inequalities in different sectors of the social sphere (the labour market, social policies, social and political participation, education, etc.).

Course contents

In this course, based on the reflections of the French sociologist Robert Castel, we will first analyse the processes that produce pervasive social insecurity. We will analyse the new forms of inequality, the risks of impoverishment, marginalisation and exclusion of large sectors of the population based on the 'growing uncertainties' of the wage society. We will then look at how economic and productive, demographic and welfare policy transformations can play a role in the reproduction and worsening of the material and symbolic conditions of different populations and territories.

The course is divided into three modules:

During the first module, the emerging features of a new social issue will be presented, which makes insecurity a structural condition in every sphere of people's daily lives, challenging the stability of individuals' biographies. Job insecurity, family instability, housing problems, and loneliness delineate new profiles of risk and social vulnerability.

During the second module, the coordinates of the contemporary debate on poverty will be reconstructed, presenting the Italian model of poverty starting from an examination of the subjects involved, the mechanisms that have generated it and the policies to counter these processes of impoverishment.

In the third module, starting from case studies, some empirical works will be presented that focus on some figures of urban marginality ("homeless people" and the so-called "baby gangs"), on social groups at the centre of the Italian poverty regime and exposed to a high risk of vulnerability (poor workers, poverty among migrants, poor minors) and on fragile territories (inner areas, urban peripheries, "ghettos").

At the end of the course, students will be able to have a general overview of the phenomena of inequality and marginality and of the main interpretative models of this phenomenon and related issues.

Readings/Bibliography

Morlicchio, E. (2020). Sociologia della povertà. il Mulino, Bologna. (seconda edizione)

Castel R. (2004), L’insicurezza sociale. Che significa essere protetti?, Einaudi, Torino.

At least 3 articles/book chapters to choose from:

• Bergamaschi M., Lomonaco A., Maggio M. (2022). Diseguaglianze e discriminazioni nell'accesso alla casa della popolazione straniera. In Migrazioni. La chance della diversità. Alessandria: Falsopiano
• Rimondi T. (2022) Dimensioni della fragilità
  dei comuni dell’Emilia-Romagna. In Rimondi T. Margini di fragilità: I territori interni tra perdita e adattamento. Milano: FrancoAngeli https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/824
• Bodini C, Gentilini V, Paganoni C, Riccio M. (2021). L’equità nel diritto alla salute: una ricerca-azione multi-metodologica e interdisciplinare per il contrasto alle disuguaglianze nella città di Bologna. In (a cura di) Castrignanò M. Sociologia dei quartieri urbani. Milano: FrancoAngeli https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/685
• ¡Crocitti, S., & Bozzetti, A. (2023). Youth deviance, urban security and ‘moral panic’: the case of Italy. Rassegna Italiana di Criminologia, XVII, 3, 198-210. https [https://doi.org/10.7347/RIC-032023-p198] ://doi.org/10.7347/ [https://doi.org/10.7347/RIC-032023-p198] RIC-032023-p198 [https://doi.org/10.7347/RIC-032023-p198]
• Lo Cascio M., Piro V. (2018). Ghetti e campi: la produzione istituzionale di marginalità abitativa nelle campagne siciliane. In Sociologia Urbana e Rurale, 117, pp. 77-97.
• Lomonaco A. (2022). Precarietà abitativa e processi di filtering: la casa in affitto per la popolazione straniera in Italia. In Bergamaschi M., Lomonaco A. (a cura di) Esplorare il territorio. Linee di ricerca socio-spaziali. Milano: FrancoAngeli
• Wacquant L. (2014). Marginalità etnicità e penalità nella città neo-liberale. Una cartografia analitica. In Territorio, 70, pp. 7-19
• Bergamaschi M. (2012) Ai confini dell'invisibile: i lavoratori poveri. In Storie di invisibili, marginali ed esclusi. Bologna: Bononia University Press
• Castel R. (1996) Le insidie dell'esclusione, in Assistenza sociale, 2, pp. 37-51
• Santangelo F., Gasperoni G., Mantovani D. (2018). Interstizi scolastici: la prossimità residenza-scuola fra gli alunni di origine immigrata a Bologna. In Sociologia urbana e rurale, 117, pp. 98-116
• Wacquant L., (2012). La regolazione punitiva della povertà nell'epoca neoliberale. In La Società degli individui, 45
• Marelli C.M. (2020). Coping strategies, attori locali e quartieri stigmatizzati. Un'abnalisi critica della proposta teorica di Wacquant. In Sociologia urbana e rurale, 122

 

Teaching methods

Seminars will supplement the lectures, with the active involvement of the students and the participation of external guests.

Assessment methods

The assessment of learning will take the form of an individual oral interview based on the reference texts for the examination. During the oral interview, learning of the course contents illustrated during the lectures will be assessed. Critical ability, appropriate language with respect to the specificity of the discipline, and the ability to deepen and link together the main themes dealt with in the various modules of the course will result in excellent marks. Correct language, mnemonic knowledge of the contents and relative critical capacity and ability to link the topics covered will result in fair marks. Inappropriate language, presence of some learning gaps but minimal knowledge of the topics covered will result in sufficient marks. Inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the topics dealt with in the examination materials, inappropriate language and formative gaps will result in negative assessments.

Teaching tools

Slides and other materials available on virtuale

Office hours

See the website of Alice Lomonaco