BOOKS BY ROBERTA PALTRINIERI

Il saggio discute sull’attualità dell’homo oeconomicus e sulla teoria del consumo di matrice economica, proponendo alcune riflessioni sociologiche sui modelli di consumo nella società globale alternative a quelle proposte dall’economia. A partire dai processi di individualizzazione si profila una nuova soggettività capace di scegliere responsabilmente, che fonda una teoria dell’azione valida per l’economia della responsabilità sociale. Il cittadino-consumatore come homo civicus, cioè come soggetto dotato di senso morale diventa il presupposto per modelli di sviluppo economici e sociali sostenibili e comprensivi.

For a shared sustainability - The text stresses how the concept of sustainability is more and more involved in the planning of project formulation and the individuation of intervention strategies. Moreover, the recovery of a unitary reference is considered; at the same time, the evanescence of the concept is put into evidence. Sustainability is often used in specific sectors; so, it seems to be trapped in fragmented interpretations, without any possibility of unity. By definition, the concept of sustainability is multidisciplinary; the almost three hundred definitions we can find about sustainable development are a demonstration of it.

Consumption and ethics in a sociological perspective, for a theory of responsible consumptionCorporate social responsibility and ethical behaviours of consumers are two aspects of the same process which is here defined like a progressive moralization of the market. This allows to talk about a culture of responsibility in which we can replace the relations between State, market and civil society and it takes us to think over a wider meaning of responsible citizenship.

Beginning from the perspective of the political consumerism this essay intends to respond to the following questions: Who is a responsible consumer? What is the impact on the ethnically orientated market? From these questions the author continues wondering if taking responsibility today is a choice or rather an obligation. From this issue depends the diffusion of a culture of responsibility that creates real narratives that feeds the social immaginaries and motivate consumers to consume goods and services instead of others.

Gli interventi presentati in due seminari dedicati a Etica e impresa. L’attenzione degli studiosi intervenuti s’incentra per lo più su un aspetto centrale sebbene specifico rispetto al panorama generale: le conseguenze dell’estensione, realizzata attraverso le imprese, dell’economia industriale capitalista all’intero pianeta e le reazioni poste in essere da soggetti della società civile che in un modo o nell’altro ne sono stati coinvolti.

Il caso di Palazzuolo sul Senio (Firenze) è dimostrazione di come sviluppo locale e turismo possano essere coniugati nell’ottica di un paradigma della sostenibilità. Il tema viene qui approfondito grazie al confronto di amministratori locali con autorevoli esperti quali sociologi, psicologi, storici, giornalisti e operatori del marketing. Ne nasce un modello che unisce nuove prospettive teoriche di studio del turismo e pratica del marketing territoriale.

This article faces the topic of immigrant’s consumption in Italy, from the basis of Censis and Eurisko 2005 researches. The economic citizenship is one of the main argument of the essay. This particular kind of citizenship could be obtained trough the access at the system of consumption, but does not build an integration process, as meant by classical sociological theory. As Georg Simmel’s studies show consumption and style of life build inclusion but not integration, so the economic citizenship can be seen as a measure of inclusion but not of integration in values.

The slow diffusion of telemedicine services is sometime attributed to the users’ resistance to make use of those services. A review of the literature show, on the contrary, that users’ satisfaction for telemedicine services do not differ in a significant way from users’ satisfaction for traditionally delivered health services. Furthermore, surveys show that a substantial minority of consumers are favourable towards the utilization of the information and communication technology for the access to medical services from remote sites. The evidence nowadays available supports the thesis that the delay in the adoption of telemedicine services is not due to the distrust of potential consumers.

Cultural identity and consumption in the society of inclusive sovereignty Consumption is commonly thought to be a key factor in the global process of homogenization. Nevertheless, it is possible to consider it in a different way, by replacing the traditional model of homogenization with a new dialectic one. According to the principle of ‘inclusive sovereignty’ provided by Ulrich Beck, glocalism allows the simultaneous existence of global and local aspects, and economic globalization does not necessarily lead to cultural globalization. It follows that the concepts of transnationality and reinforcement, as well as those of cultural heterogeneity and flow, have to be taken into account. This is confirmed by the movements of goods, as global offer stimulates the awareness of local opportunities, both economically and culturally.

More and more people are using Internet to participate in electronic forum where they can exchange information about a particular disease, and patients and caregiver can find comfort and social support. This essay emphasizes the importance of these "virtual places" for health education and the promotion of disease self-management especially among patients with chronic or disabling pathologies. Secondly, it analyzes the factors enabling such solidarity creation and circulation among people who mostly do not interact with each other in the "real world". The sociality displayed in computer mediated communication among strangers is made possible by factors which can be related to technology means, service configuration and the social characteristics of participants. Finally, some currently active electronic forums devoted to chronic patients or disabled people are described as an example.