Political Participation in the Risk Society: The Italian Case

Marianna Bartiromo,Enrico Ivaldi

doi:10.3390/jrfm14090435

Marianna Bartiromo, Enrico Ivaldi

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14090435

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Abstract

The risk society has profoundly changed our way of life. Among the social phenomena most affected by its effects is undoubtedly political participation and the degree of trust in institutions. This work aims, through the construction of two different indices, to answer the question “How does the risk society influence conventional participation and trust in institutions?”. The Indagine Multiscopo sulle famiglie and the Benessere Equo Sostenibile surveys provide a complete set of indicators to assess specific aspects of Italian daily life and well-being. This work uses a series of data from these surveys to analyze political participation and trust in institutions in Italy in 2019 at regional level using two composite indices obtained through the application of the MPI method. The result of this paper shows no particular effects of the risk society on conventional forms of political participation. Instead, the effects of the risk society are fully visible on levels of trust in institutions.

Highlights

Globalization, in addition to changing our way of life, has brought new risks and dangers to different societies
Two different indices of political participation and trust in institutions have been proposed, which have allowed a study of the two phenomena in 2019 and an analysis from the perspective of a risk society
While it is true that, on the one hand, the increase in risk leads to a lowering of the degree of trust in institutions, on the other hand, this climate of growing distrust in institutions does not affect Italian political participation

Summary

Introduction

Globalization, in addition to changing our way of life, has brought new risks and dangers to different societies. While it has fostered exponential economic growth, it has contributed to increased environmental degradation and social inequalities (Borghesi and Vercelli 2003). With regard to risk since the end of the last century, a line of studies has been established. These studies define risk as the automatic result of the production of goods and technological progress caused by the modern capitalist economic model. The most authoritative scholar and inventor of the risk society, Ulrich

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