(Im)perfect strangers - A trans-disciplinary study on the phenomenon of adult men's inactivity
Thanks to a distinctly trans-disciplinary approach and multiple qualitative and quantitative tools, the project aims to:
- Reconstruct the scientific, cultural and political debate on the "statistical construction" of the phenomenon of inactivity, its thematization by the different disciplines, labour market and civil society actors, and the media system, describe the long-term trends of the phenomenon in Italy and identify the factors that determine the general trends and differences between territorial contexts.
- Describe the recent trends of the phenomenon in the light of the international framework, any structural breaks related to events such as the pandemic, its territorial characteristics, correlations with other variables (e.g. unemployment, poverty), flows into/from the non-labour force.
- To provide an overview of the composition of the phenomenon of male inactivity – with reference to variables such as age, educational and professional background, family status, attitudes towards work and job seeking/not looking for work, use of time, social life, social capital resources, etc. – and identify the main idealtypical profiles of unemployed adult men.
- Identify the links between inactivity and health condition by deepening the relationship with the risk of work-related stress, deepen the motivations and meanings related to the condition of inactivity of adult men and explore its relationship with educational and professional paths, the perceived fatigue/resources with respect to the labor market, the representation of the future.
- To study the influence of inactivity (and its duration) on relational experience and identity definition processes at the personal/family/social level, with particular attention to gender and role identities and beliefs about masculinity/masculinity.
- Investigate the ways in which media representation translates male inactivity and orients it culturally and politically, as well as the underlying anthropological models, comparing them with the narrative and representational models of other cultural contexts.
- To provide an estimate of the phenomenon of voluntary resignations and investigate how the transformations induced by the pandemic have translated into new meanings of work and changes in the "psychological contract" with work organizations, both from the point of view of (former) workers and from that of companies.
- To analyse the impact of the various income support measures on labour supply and demand, with particular regard to the solutions that have emerged in the Italian and European legal landscape (citizenship income and hypotheses for the definition of a minimum wage).
- Explore the opportunities for professional reactivation associated with the ecological transition. To provide useful indications for public policies and action strategies of all those subjects that can contribute to improving the inclusiveness of work organizations, the empowerment of vulnerable people and their media representation contribute to the promotion of a society and an economy based on the principles of social equity and sustainability, i.e. according to the principles of integral human development and integral ecology.
Financier: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore within the intervention line D3.2, Research of University interest
Period: 2023-2026
The research team
The research team is composed of researchers from 8 different Faculties of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, three campuses (Milan, Brescia and Rome) and 13 scientific-disciplinary groupings, two contract professors, two research fellows and two postgraduate students.
The members of an International Committee of Experts also participated in the planning of the activities and the discussion of the intermediate results.
The project is directed by Laura Zanfrini.
The researchers involved are (in alphabetical order):
- CARLOTTA AMANTEA (Specializzanda in Medicina del Lavoro, Rome
- ILARIA BERETTA (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Brescia)
- CRISTINA BIRBES (M-PED/01, Faculty of Education Sciences, Brescia)
- IVAN BORRELLI (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Rome)
- AUGUSTO COCORULLO (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Milan)
- ALESSANDRA DANIELE (Specializzanda in Medicina del Lavoro, Rome)
- GIUSEPPE D'ANNA (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Milan)
- VINCENZO FERRANTE (Faculty of Law, Milan)
- MARIAGRAZIA FANCHI (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Milan)
- GIANPIERO FUMI (Faculty of Economics, Milan)
- EMMA GARAVAGLIA (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Milan, now transferred to Politecnico di Milano)
- MARIALUISA GENNARI (Faculty of Psychology, Brescia)
- CRISTINA GIULIANI (Faculty of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures, Milan)
- LUCA LANFRANCHI (Contract Lecturer)
- LUCIANO FASANO (University of Milan)
- MASSIMO LOCATELLI (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Brescia)
- ROSANGELA LODIGIANI (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Milan)
- LORENZA A. LORENZETTI (Research Fellow - Assegnista di ricerca)
- NICOLA MARTINELLI (Contract Lecturer in History of Labor and Industrial Relations)
- SERENA MAZZOLI (Research Fellow - Assegnista di ricerca)
- PATRIZIA MILESI (Confirmed Researcher in Social Psychology)
- MARIO NOSVELLI (Contract Lecturer in Labor Economics)
- SILVIO CARLO RIPAMONTI (Faculty of Psychology, Milan)
- GIULIA RIVELLINI (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Milan)
- GIULIO ROMALDI (Research Fellow - Assegnista di ricerca)
- NICOLÒ ROSSI (Research Fellow - Assegnista di ricerca)
- PAOLO EMILIO SANTORO (Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Rome)
- GIANCARLO TAMANZA (Faculty of Psychology, Brescia)
- ERIKA TEODORA UBERTI (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Milan)
- LAURA ZANFRINI (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Milan)