The specific aims of this paper are to analyse, from a sociological point of view: a) peculiarity of the transition to adulthood for the Italian young people in comparison with the other European countries; b) changes in the modalities of interaction between parents and sons and daughters with reference to the authority relations and the shapes of regulation of their daily interactions; c) existence, in a context of progressive weakening and erosion of the structures of parents authority, of a substantial convergence in the perceptions of young people and adults with regard to educational choices, the reference models, the modalities of family interactions. In this perspective the socialization process is interpreted as a dynamic process in which vertical-hierarchical mechanisms of socialization are replaced by ‘horizontal’ ones based on intra-generational comparison and on intergenerational bargaining. Three are the samples used for the quantitative analysis: 1) a sample of twenty-eight thousand cases, representative of twenty-eight European countries, coming from the EQLS Survey (2003); 2) a sample of two thousand cases, of Italian young people aged 16-29 years; a sample of four hundred units of men and women aged 35-65 years with sons or daughters aged 5-25 years. For the qualitative part, the interactions in family have been further deepened through forty-five ‘in-depth interviews’ with parents and sons of the same household. The preliminary data confirm and reinforce the hypothesis of the absence of explicit conflict between the generations. The family ‘climate’ is characterized, in the perception of the sons and daughters, from dialogue and comparison; the rules in family are flexible, often shared or negotiated from sons and daughters. The presence of reciprocal relations is an element that characterizes also the adults’ perceptions.
Parents, sons and daughters in Italy: toward a flexible socialisation
TORRIONI, Paola Maria
2010-01-01
Abstract
The specific aims of this paper are to analyse, from a sociological point of view: a) peculiarity of the transition to adulthood for the Italian young people in comparison with the other European countries; b) changes in the modalities of interaction between parents and sons and daughters with reference to the authority relations and the shapes of regulation of their daily interactions; c) existence, in a context of progressive weakening and erosion of the structures of parents authority, of a substantial convergence in the perceptions of young people and adults with regard to educational choices, the reference models, the modalities of family interactions. In this perspective the socialization process is interpreted as a dynamic process in which vertical-hierarchical mechanisms of socialization are replaced by ‘horizontal’ ones based on intra-generational comparison and on intergenerational bargaining. Three are the samples used for the quantitative analysis: 1) a sample of twenty-eight thousand cases, representative of twenty-eight European countries, coming from the EQLS Survey (2003); 2) a sample of two thousand cases, of Italian young people aged 16-29 years; a sample of four hundred units of men and women aged 35-65 years with sons or daughters aged 5-25 years. For the qualitative part, the interactions in family have been further deepened through forty-five ‘in-depth interviews’ with parents and sons of the same household. The preliminary data confirm and reinforce the hypothesis of the absence of explicit conflict between the generations. The family ‘climate’ is characterized, in the perception of the sons and daughters, from dialogue and comparison; the rules in family are flexible, often shared or negotiated from sons and daughters. The presence of reciprocal relations is an element that characterizes also the adults’ perceptions.
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