Intellettuali italiani fra societŕ opulenta e democrazia del benessere: il caso de "Il Mulino" (1958-1968)

Abstract

- By the 1950s the process of economic reconstruction in Italy was widely considered as accomplished with the welfare consumerist society starting to take hold, albeit not without its contradictions. Shifting the perspective of the analysis from the economic aspects to the socio-political ones of consumption, this essay seeks to reconstruct the debate that was developed by the group of intellectuals of the journal Il Mulino over the challenges posed by the transformation of lifestyles and culture as a consequence of the establishment of the so-called affluent society in the years spanning between the publication of John Kenneth Galbraith's work and 1968. By analysing political works and archival materials the article sheds light on the key issues of the debate as well as on the connection between, on the one hand, the issue of welfare and the consumer revolution, and space and political legitimation, on the other. It is focused on the analytical process that, starting from the reception of Anglo- American sociology and political science, would then conceptualise the standard of living and access to consumption and leisure time as an element of political legitimacy and a redefinition of the relations between citizens and government. The article then analyses the democratisation of affluence and what intellectuals like Giorgio Galli, Luigi Pedrazzi, Nicola Matteucci identified as the political formula capable of providing adequate answers to this new aspect of the modernisation process: the Centre-Left DCPsi alliance. In conclusion, the author deepens the hypothesis drafted by the Il Mulino group concerning the superseding of the "sclerosis of the Italian party system, that is the imperfect two-party system, interpreted as being the diagnosis of the Italian political stalemate and a solution to" the political issue of affluence. Key words: welfare society, affluent society, political issue of welfare, consumer society, the Sixties in Italy, intellectuals of the Il Mulino, DC-Psi Centre-Left coalition, imperfect two-party system DC-Pc