Una società convergente e plurale. L'Europa tra flessibilità lavorativa, complessità sociale e individualizzazione dei corsi di vita.

This critical note aims to present and discuss the volume edited by Loredana Sciolla concerning social processes and transformations of Europe in the last fifty years. Two are the purposes of the volume: the first is to identify social processes that provide interpretative frames for understanding the transformations of contemporary European societies. The second concerns the possibility of the existence of an European society or, on the contrary, the prevalence of nation-states’ diversity. Three are the mechanisms on which the transformations in Europe are analysed: the spread of flexible forms of employment, the increase of social complexity as a result of the multiplication of centers of power and legitimisation and the process of individualisation of life courses. The author’s thesis is that, inspite the differences, Europe is a convergent and plural society, and European countries’ diversity doesn’t mean, necessarily, social desegregation but rather pluralism of values.