The consumer society and the (false) myth of mass democratisation

About fifty years from its first publication in 1970, La société de consommation. Ses mythes ses structures (Paris Denoël) confirms itself as a lucid analysis of the meanings at the basis of the consumption dynamics within contemporary society. In what he calls the ‘mystique of equality’, the concept of needs is linked to that of well-being, triggering the illusion that the increase in total amount of goods an individual can possess automatically translates into a levelling of society and in total well-being for all. According to Baudrillard, this approach does not take due account of the social logic of consumption, at which level the differentiation process for the retention of social distances is reiterated. Thus, according to Baudrillard, a mechanism that powers social differences survives through a consumerist ideology disguised as egalitarianism. Hence, Baudrillard distances himself from Marx and from the concept of value in use, understanding that at the base of mature capitalism does not lie production (and thus the dialectic of capital/labour force), but consumption. Years later, the system of consumption presents itself unchanged, to the extent that in some respects the postmodern aesthetics has actually exasperated its characteristics, blending the needs of production with an individual differentiation process that seems incapable of finding other ways of expression

Novità sul fronte dell’ Iniziativa dei cittadini europei

L’ Ice, Iniziativa dei cittadini europei, è uno strumento di democrazia partecipativa previsto dall’art. 11, paragrafo 4 del Trattato di Lisbona, primo esempio al mondo di democrazia diretta transnazionale o di e-democracy transnazional

Il lobbying nell’Unione europea: le misure sulla trasparenza

Il ruolo delle lobbies nei processi decisionali europei è da sempre oggetto di un’attenta analisi da parte di studiosi e addetti ai lavori che si sono trovati da una parte a dover evidenziare le differenze di fondo rispetto all’esperienza del più consolidato lobbying anglosassone e dall’altra a sottolineare le peculiarità di quello europeo in rapporto alla complessa architettura istituzionale europea e alla vastità degli interessi che sono rappresentati al suo interno e che hanno fatto di Bruxelles una delle capitali mondiali del lobbying. Malgrado le lobbies continuino ad essere ritenute un elemento disfunzionale della democrazia europea e la causa principale della scarsa trasparenza dei meccanismi decisionali, è ormai riconosciuto il loro ruolo di canali di informazione per istituzioni che, come quelle europee, sono contraddistinte dall’endemica distanza dai cittadini. La cospicua presenza delle lobbies ha indotto le istituzioni europee ad avviare un percorso sulla trasparenza che costituisce attualmente uno degli strumenti più avanzati e in continua evoluzione di regolamentazione dell’attività dei gruppi di pressione

Cittadinanza europea vs. cittadinanza nazionale. Luci e ombre di un rapporto difficile

The relationship between European citizenship and national one is since the first formulation the main topic of the debate on its statute. At the present time, the short circuit between European citizenship and national one produces differentiated effects: the freedom that member States have to assess the criteria for the acquisition of citizenship produces a contrast between ‘citizens non-resident’ and ‘non-citizens resident’

Could time detect a faking-good attitude? A study with the MMPI-2-RF

Background and Purpose: Research on the relationship between response latency (RL) and faking in self-administered testing scenarios have generated contradictory findings. We explored this relationship further, aiming to add further insight into the reliability of self-report measures. We compared RLs and T-scores on the MMPI-2-RF (validity and restructured clinical [RC] scales) in four experimental groups. Our hypotheses were that: the Fake-Good Speeded group would obtain a different completion time; show higher RLs than the Honesty Speeded Group in the validity scales; show higher T-Scores in the L-r and K-r scales and lower T-scores in the F-r and RC scales; and show higher levels of tension and fatigue. Finally, the impact of the speeded condition in malingering was assessed. Materials and Methods: The sample was comprised of 135 subjects (M = 26.64; SD = 1.88 years old), all of whom were graduates (having completed at least 17 years of instruction), male, and Caucasian. Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups: Honesty Speeded, Fake-Good Speeded, Honesty Un-Speeded, and Fake-Good Un-Speeded. A software version of the MMPI-2-RF and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were administered. To test the hypotheses, MANOVAs and binomial logistic regressions were run. Results: Significant differences were found between the four groups, and particularly between the Honest and Fake-Good groups in terms of test completion time and the L-r and K-r scales. The speeded condition increased T-scores in the L-r and K-r scales but decreased T-scores in some of the RC scales. The Fake groups also scored higher on the VAS Tension subscale. Completion times for the first and second parts of the MMPI-2-RF and T-scores for the K-r scale seemed to predict malingering. Conclusion: The speeded condition seemed to bring out the malingerers. Limitations include the sample size and gender bias

Focus elezioni europee 2014. Quelli che domani non votano

The European Election and the relationship between citizenship rights and second generations in Ital

E-democracy: il futuro della democrazia viaggia su Internet

L' e-democrazia nell' Unione europea: potenziali e sfide; rapporto presentato dalla Commissione Affari costituzionali del Parlamento europeo

Seconde generazioni. A quando la nuova legge?

Second generation in Italy: law proposal for the recognition of citizenship to the second generation in Ital

Social Trends. Resilienza

Resilience is in general terms is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. The article focuses ont the relationship between urban commons and resilience

I media civici. Verso una democrazia 2.0

Social Media and Civic Media: a comparison between two different tools of participation