Welfare is not simply an unproductive expenditure. On the contrary, it is, and can be, a tool for social and human investment. This is why it would be opportune to (re)evaluate it through the prism of common goods, on the one hand reinforcing the concept of equal citizenship, on the other developing a notion of “public” that is not exclusively tied to “state”. Welfare is also the responsibility of citizens, not merely as honest taxpayers, but also as active participants in its construction. It is not a question of merely improving traditional forms of volunteering and the third sector, but developing a concept and practice of active citizenship. Participation is achieved politically and through trade unions; through the co-construction and maintenance of services, self-help/mutual aid and the circulation of skills. Of course this form of participation cannot replace the type of welfare that is guaranteed by the state, but it can integrate with it on a practical and conceptual level, helping to circulate and pool human and material resources.
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Chiara Saraceno was a former research professor at Berlin’s Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung (Scientific Center for Social Research) and has taught Sociology of the family at Turin University. She was a member of the Investigative Committee on Poverty and Social Exclusion in Italy, which she then chaired from 1998 to 2001. She is honorary fellow of the Collegio Carlo Alberto of Turin and she regularly contributes to the newsdaily la Repubblica.She has conducted research on family, gender and generation relations, social policies, and poverty. On the latter subject, she has produced two reports, both published by Il Mulino: Povertà e benessere. Geografia delle disuguaglianze in Italia (2007, with A. Brandolini) and Dimensioni della disuguaglianza in Italia, povertà, abitazione, salute (2009, with A. Brandolini, A. Schizzerotto). Among her other publications are: I nuovi poveri (with P. Dovis, Codice Edizioni, 2011); Cittadini a metà (Rizzoli, 2012); Coppie e famiglie (Feltrinelli, 2012); Eredità (Rosenberg & Sellier, 2013); Sociologia della famiglia (with M. Naldini, 2007 and 2013), Onora il padre e la madre (with G. Laras, 2010), Conciliare famiglia e lavoro (with M. Naldini, 2011), Il welfare (2013), Stranieri e disuguali (with N. Sartor, G. Sciortino, 2013), all published by Il Mulino.
Chiara Saraceno & i Dialoghi
2014
Il programma sarà disponibile a breve...
Il programma sarà disponibile a breve...