B. BARABASCHI, Democratic participation and development in Achille Ardigò sociology.
Paper aims to deep Achille Ardigò tribute to the sociological reflection on «participation» and
«local development» concepts. Focusing on the primate of civil society on political control, various forms of participation that Ardigò used in his analysis are presented, with special reference to that of social and cultural participation. Ardigò indicated also the real case of urban and local development, in order to explain disfunctional effects that these kind of development may produce, with the risk to compromise the equilibrated balance between rise and labour quality and, in consequence, life quality. Finally, it is possible to declare that Ardigò lesson is extremely up-todate in respect of contemporary sociological literature on local development based on participation processes. This, only if all actors involved will be able to emphasize cultural, communicational, relational dimensions, local social capital, and only if social cohesion would be the aim of local development processes, probably only at these conditions they could end with success.
Key words: democratic participation, local development, urban development, civil society.
A. BERTOLAZZI, Drugs consumption between subjective sense and social system.
The current drugs consumption became now a global and transversal phenomena, in relation
to social and structural variables like age, sex, educational level, socio-economic status. Starting from Ardigo’s insights, this paper suggests a better comprehension of the issue by analyzing two perspective. On the one hand, drugs use could be understood as a transaction crisis between vital worlds and social system. So systemic sense spreads alarmistic informations on drugs danger, whereas a different inter-subjective sense moves along vital worlds. It deals with the normalization of recreational and sensitive drugs use. On the other hand, this kind of «break in common sense communication» offers a severe challenge to current national drugs strategy and to organizational structures. Through Ardigò’s reflections on the necessary shiftings of social policies for overcoming the crisis of welfare state, 4 drug abuse service systems will be put in comparison.
Key words: drugs consumption, welfare state, vital world, national drugs strategy, Ardigò.
C. CLEMENTE, Welfare and ICT in health sociology by Achille Ardigò.
Achille Ardigò has devoted a considerable importance to the use of Internet in the public and
private health sector, both in the impact analysis and, more importantly, in the actual promotion of health services. He was envisaging, with large anticipation, the great potential of ICT, which would favour a better responses to health issues, also in terms of administrative and management efficiency. At the same time, he did not neglect to take into consideration some of the threats within Internet revolution: the risk of a «self service» behaviour from the patient’s side and that of a backward push of public with respect to private actors in the access to health care market. This paper reviews the scientific commitment of Achille Ardigò in figuring out an e-Health model in contrast to system theory and to micro-macro relationship, in the light of new health environment contexts and of new European models of welfare society.
Key words: welfare, e-health, Ardigò, web, health system.
V. DIOGUARDI, Communication role in health system in Achille Ardigò works.
The aim of this paper is to explain how Achille Ardigò treated the issue of health communication
in his works. In the first part of the paper, we will review the Ardigo’s thought about the
concept of communication. We will find out that Ardigò regards communication as the cornerstone of the society. In the second part, we will focus on the specific role played by communication within the health system; the Ardigò’s opinion is that communication should promote forms of relationship and participation. Therefore we will examine features that good communication should have to enable recipients of health services to get out of passive state.
Key words: Ardigò, communication, health communication, health system.
M. ESPOSITO, Achille Ardigò and the «Sociology of Composition». The challenge of the humanization of Information and Communication Technologies in the Health System.
The article aims to highlight the «compositive» vocation of Sociology of Achille Ardigò,
especially in the field of humanization of Information and Communication Technologies in the
Health System. This beruf finds expression in the continuous and uninterrupted references –
not only from a theoretical and axiological point of view, but also in a heuristic and applicatory
sense – to a sociology based on key words of: composition, cooperation, complementarity, compatibility, connection. This Sociology may finally realize the Homo Civicus of the modern society, in which high subjectivity and high level of existential significance are fully realized, and that constitutes the entire realization of the concept of “person”. The rationalization of the Health System doesn’t mean, according to Ardigò, a de-humanization of the relationship and the networks, but on the contrary the Information and Communication Technologies, and especially the Web, must be used in a complementary and subsidiary way, so that relations between operators and clients, patients and their families could be further improved and appreciated, in a «social utilization» of the new technologies.
Key words: new technologies, person, composition, humanization, networks.
D. GALESI, Governance phenomenology. Participated construction of social and health policies and emerging challenges.
Referring to the sociology of Ardigò, this paper aims to discuss the construction of governance
in contemporary health policies. From a theoretical perspective, the principle of empathy
emphasizes the empowerment of local communities in those planning processes that affect the
determinants of health. From an empirical perspective, the principle of ambivalence extends the possibilities of methodological integration, not only between quantitative and qualitative
approaches, but also between research and decision making techniques. From an operative perspective, these assumptions call for the implementation of more inclusive strategies, opening a collaboration both with other professions and with the non-expert knowledge of informal social networks. At different but connected levels, the phenomenological proposal of the author stimulates researchers to break down self-referential frame, building policies which are effectively opened to needs and resources emerging in the lifeworld.
Key words: governance, phenomenology, methodological integration, health, participation.
E. MARTINI, Looking a little further ahead: the contribution of Ardigò to sociology.
Achille Ardigò has shown that «any research of truth, especially scientific truth, requires
inter-subjectivity as initial process of control and objectivity in scientific knowledge». In his
conception, no knowledge makes sense if it is separated from the real introspective and emphatic and communicative process. For this reason, he calls for a deeper analysis on sociality of science and technology as the social perspective – in the application of new technologies – encourages the human being to be regarded as source and final target of all and any scientific knowledge (science is therefore considered as observer dependant). In my opinion Science and Technology Studies are a good example to confirm the afore-going as the former have envisaged different approaches to study the human and social dimension within every new piece of knowledge and technology (Ardigò’s inter-subjective objectivity). These studies sustain that social research cannot be restricted to the impacts of science and technology on society, but it should also focus on the way and manner stakeholders’ networks are set up and yield results in the scientific and technological domains including also any cognitive-operational strategies and social factors which foster the diffusion of such scientific and technological output.
Key words: individual, empathy, conscience, knowledge, technology.
A. MATURO, Empathy between neurons and medicine: topicality of an Achille Ardigò concept.
The concept of empathy is central in Ardigo’ sociology, but in which areas is empathy
important nowadays? In my analysis I have found three areas in which empathy has a considerable epistemological reputation. Specifically, I describe Jeremy Rifkin Era of Empathy; after that I take into consideration what is considered one of the most important discovery in neuroscience of the last fifty years: the mirro-neurons, that is the neurons of empathy. Third, in Sociology of health, empathy appears to be an important analitical tool in order to practice the Narrative-Based Medicine. There is also a place in which empathy is incredibly missing: mental diagnosis. As a matter of fact the DSM-IV is based on symptoms and on very «objective» descriptions without caring much on the subjectivity of the patient. Finally, I try to consider how Ardigò would have.
Key words: empathy, Ardigò, mirror-neurons, Rifkin, Narrative-Based Medicine.
F. PICCOLI, Achille Ardigò and «elderly condition», between sociological analysis and perspectives of social innovation.
Ardigò’s contribution for the development of a full sociological knowledge about elderly
condition has been very important. It has embraced several subject areas, often combining theoretical elaboration with field research and even field-testing. The aim of my paper is to provide a synthetic representation of Ardigò’s contribution, by following some guidelines: the analysis of senescence differentiation processes in relation to the broader process of social differentiation; studies and experiments on elderly home care and, more generally, I.C.T.; the exhortation of elderly to a greater civic and political engagement for the construction of our future society.
Key words: elderly condition, social differentiation, senescence processes, elderly services, elderly partecipation.
G. PISI, Achille Ardigò and the Sociology of the territory.
My contribution focuses on three books: Female emancipation and urbanism, The metropolitan
area and The urban spread. My aim is stressing the intellectual path of Achille Ardigò, who
shifted from rural Sociology to urban Sociology. Female emancipation is considered in its several
elements, and all of them are connected to urbanism; in particular, the movements from rural
to urban areas are mentioned. Some elements from the Ecological Chicago School and the
Talcott Parsons’ theory are used as tools to deal with urbanization and urban spread trends,
which were studied by Ardigò since the middle of the 1960s. Some concepts like Dominance
and Planning are considered too; Ardigò used them to face the emergencies of the metropolitan
area as a social system: in this case, Parsons' functional prerequisites are used as a «compass» to define such concepts, and to combine theory and empirical research.
Key words: female emancipation, Talcott parson’s theories, metropolitan area, dominance,
planning.