Paul Ginsborg

"Concern over the present state of the world - its tensions and disparities - fosters in many people the uneasy combination of two sensations: those of urgency and powerlessness. We feel that something must be done before it is too late, but we have little idea of what we as individuals, or as families, or as groups of friends, can possibly do to stem the tide." "This book explores the choices we have. It considers the options for civil society, and for the individual, within today's political culture. It offers a strong critique of the prevailing model of modernity in developed countries, a model that is being exported and imposed on the rest of the world." "We need to re-think the choices we make on a day-to-day basis. We must look at the ways we use our time, our family lives, the sorts of goods and services we consume, and the quality of democracy that we are able to exercise. The solution, says Ginsborg, lies in our own hands."--Jacket.

A major bestseller in Italy, Paul Ginsborg's account of this most recent and dynamic period in Italy's history is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand contemoprary Italy. Ginsborg chronicles a period that witnessed a radical transformation in the country's social, economic and political landscape, creating a fascinating and definitve account of how Italy has coped or failed to cope as it moves from one century to the next. With particular emphasis on its role in italian life, work and culture Ginsborg shows how smaller families, longer lives and greater generation crossover have had significant effects on Italian society. Ginsborg looks at the 2000 elections, the influence of the Mafia, the decline of both Communism and Catholicism, and the change in national identity.

From a war-torn and poverty-stricken country, regional and predominantly agrarian, to the success story of recent years, Italy has witnessed the most profound transformation--economic, social and demographic--in its entire history. Yet the other recurrent theme of the period has been the overwhelming need for political reform--and the repeated failure to achieve it.

The family can be viewed as one of the links in a "golden chain" connecting individuals, the private sphere, civil society, and the democratic state; as potentially an important source of energy for social activity; and as the primary institution that socializes and diffuses the values and norms that are of fundamental importance for civil society. Yet much of the literature on civil society pays very little attention to the complex relations between civil society and the family. These two spheres constitute a central element in democratic development and culture and form a counterweight to some of the most distressing aspects of modernity, such as the excessive privatization of home life and the unceasing work-and-spend routines.This volume offers historical perspectives on the role of families and their members in the processes of a libral and democratic civil society, the question of boundaries and intersections of the private and public domains, and interventions of state institutions.