La misurazione della coesione sociale: il dibattito metodologico

As there is no convergence between scholars regarding the definition of social cohesion, it
is also difficult to translate it empirically. Some approaches tried to explore how social cohesion
is produced, but they mostly worked with small groups (descriptive approach). Others, much
more numerous, have defined social cohesion beforehand, on the basis of already formulated
policy priorities (prescriptive approach). The latter approach leads to a multiplication of factorial
models, in which various antecedents and consequences melt together, without the possibility of
exploring the causal relationships between them. Another issue analyzed regards the level of the
measurement of social cohesion, discussing about the relative relevance of individual-level measurements,
as compared to larger-scale data collection. To conclude, more in-depth exploration of
how social cohesion actually occurs is necessary, along with a clarification of overlapping factors
that constitute the empirical construct.