La coesione interrotta

The goal of this paper is to analyze the propensity for social cohesion of young Italians. Ourhypothesis is that – since the 1990s – young people in Italy have exhibited a lack of social cohesion.Young people who have grown up in post-modern society have had to adapt to individualistic effectsof flexible jobs, globalization and ethical relativism. These generations have been defined as flexiblegenerations. This analysis aims at verifying this hypothesis by means of an empirical study. Socialcohesion is defined as a multi-dimensional concept with a subjective, an objective and a relationaldimension. The subjective dimension concerns feelings about society and institutions. The objectivedimension concerns individual propensity towards participation. The relational dimension concernsthe typology of important ties/nets selected. An analysis of national and local data shows that youngpeople present a lack of relational cohesion that which over a long period of time can damage the otherdimensions of social cohesion. This condition seems accentuated by the current economic crisis.