Seminario: "Involved youth and cultural precariousness. Interpretative reflections about the Italian context"

Por: Carlo Genova (University of Turin)

Sala Manuel de Terán 3F

Organiza: Teresa Martín (IEGD, CCHS-CSIC)

Resumen:
If risk, uncertainty, instability are some of the more widespread terms used to describe nowadays society, precariousness is what best captures the actual condition that actors have to face. Precariousness is here meant as the condition of what is variable because exposed to the change of external but influent factors. Being youth the phase of personal biography when individuals acquire and develop profiles of thought and action, young people are probably the social sector most exposed to the effects of precariousness, due to the weakness of their personal cultural patterns and due to the weakness of cultural models proposed by the nowadays social context; but they are also the social sector most able in developing innovative ways to move through this precariousness, being less connected with schemes of thought and action shaped by past and by different socio-cultural conditions.
Aim of the speech is to reflect about how young people manage to face contextual and personal uncertainty, by focussing in particular on how precariousness influence the interplay of three levels: the cognitive-axiological level – where individuals define “how reality is” and “how reality should be”, the socio-structural level – where social context defines individual models and resources, and the pragmatic level – where individuals act between meanings, models and resources. The analysis concentrates on the Italian context and it mainly is based on data deriving from qualitative interviews with youth actively involved in different cultures connected with politics, religion, sport and music.

Breve Bio:
Carlo Genova, Ph.D. in comparative social research, is assistant professor of sociology of culture at the University of Turin, where he teaches sociology of culture and sociology of lifestyles. His main study interests focus on youth cultures, lifestyles and subcultures theories, social space dynamics. During last years his main empirical research fields have been social and political activism, forms of religious participation, artistic scenes, forms of distinctive consumption. He is a member of the European Sociological Association, Research Networks: Sociology of Culture, Youth and Generation; of the European Consortium for Political Research, Standing Group: Forms of participation; and of the Interdisciplinary Network for the Study of Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change.