Papers by Alfredo Agustoni
It is a paper that, starting from a wide resign of existing literature, achieves its conclusions ... more It is a paper that, starting from a wide resign of existing literature, achieves its conclusions with a very strong methodological awareness and competence. I proudly suggest its publication Qeios, CC-BY 4.0 • Review,
ABSTRACT In this paper we try to sketch a synthesis of the relations between energy transitions a... more ABSTRACT In this paper we try to sketch a synthesis of the relations between energy transitions and social change (starting from biological evolution, with reference to fire domestication) in History, utilizing in an original way conspicuous contributions, such as Mumford’s, Cottrell’s, White’s, Adam’s, Elias’s, Innis’s and Schumpeter’s ones. We pay a particular attention to the use of more and more sophisticated forms of “energy converters”, also the organization of human labor (what Mumford calls a “megamachine”) being one of them. At the same time, we try to stress the links between energy transitions and communication, with a particular attention to the implications of those links for the relations of power within human societies
Sociologia della comunicazione, 2001
Globalisation is first of all a problem of languages (languages that meet and collide with each o... more Globalisation is first of all a problem of languages (languages that meet and collide with each other), as we have realized at the age of the tower of Babel. Of course we are talking about languages in all the accepted meanings of the word, that is including any languages (art, music, space, etc.). In this age, where the world is said to be like a whole, useful reflections over this matter must take into account the globalisation of the economical processes, which are very important in the current political and ideological debate. Therefore the starting point for this essay is a number of interviews to art operators, carried out in a wider research about Lombardy in the global contexts, in order to make a critical excursus through some of the most important theories about the matter.
Sociologia urbana e rurale, 1995
Review of Sociology, May 4, 2019
The presented research, characterized as a case study, was conducted in the months of April and M... more The presented research, characterized as a case study, was conducted in the months of April and May 2018 in the Matam Region, north of Senegal, conducted by Centro Ricerche IDOS within the framework of a project of economic development and business creation, realized by the Italian branch of the Green Cross NGO and funded by the Italian Ministry of the Interior. The research activity envisaged by the project was focused, first of all, on the knowledge level of the risks associated with migration among the rural population of the region, but many of the hypotheses concerned the relations that had never been sufficiently thematized between migratory waves and climate changes that have affected the area in the last 50 years.
Capitalism Nature Socialism, Sep 18, 2019
is better known for developing an "Eco-Marxist" approach (O'Connor 1990, 1998) than for his analy... more is better known for developing an "Eco-Marxist" approach (O'Connor 1990, 1998) than for his analysis of the fiscal crisis of the state (O'Connor 1979). What makes him still a cutting-edge author is his attempt to examine-from a "critical" Marxist perspective-problems that were "emergent" back in the 1970s, and that have by now turned into fully-fledged emergencies. In both cases, then and now, O'Connor notes how capital externalises its own contradictions to spheres outside the restricted realms of production, only to have to confront such contradictions as its own environmental problems. In a way, capitalist production works like Carnot's heat engine, incapable of generating movement without exporting disorder outside its own boundaries. However, unlike Carnot's engine, which reproduces the same movements, we find ourselves before historical processes where capitalism expands by colonising ever newer ambits and lands, while at each turn finding itself in the same contradictions. In actuality, this sort of argument is traceable to a series of reflections on imperialism, starting with Hobson, Lenin, and Luxemburg. In any case, there is a direct line connecting O'Connor's work in the early 1970s, The Fiscal Crisis of the State, with that which emerges a quarter century later in Natural Causes. The link can be identified in his analysis of the relationships between capitalism, the state, and social movements (from the protest movements of the 1960s to the environmentalist movements of later decades). The starting point, as O'Connor himself describes it through an autobiographical lens, can be found in the interests that animate his work as a young scholar of public finance during the 1960s-a leftist scholar who catches the promising potentials of attending to class conflict. In this regard, the state and public finance, erroneously assumed to be neutral, can tell us a lot more than we imagine as human beings. The capitalism of the "gilded age" had shifted its intrinsically conflictual dynamics to the state, public spending, welfare, and warfare.
MONDI MIGRANTI, 2013
Analisi delle traiettorie insediative delle popolazioni migranti in due contesti urbani lombardi ... more Analisi delle traiettorie insediative delle popolazioni migranti in due contesti urbani lombardi e dei processi di convivenza interetnica che si vengono a delinerare
This essay outlines the main characteristics of rural transformation in Europe, following some PA... more This essay outlines the main characteristics of rural transformation in Europe, following some PAC regulations, such as the passage from agricultural production to leisure time use
ABSTRACT In this paper we try to sketch a synthesis of the relations between energy transitions a... more ABSTRACT In this paper we try to sketch a synthesis of the relations between energy transitions and social change (starting from biological evolution, with reference to fire domestication) in History, utilizing in an original way conspicuous contributions, such as Mumford’s, Cottrell’s, White’s, Adam’s, Elias’s, Innis’s and Schumpeter’s ones. We pay a particular attention to the use of more and more sophisticated forms of “energy converters”, also the organization of human labor (what Mumford calls a “megamachine”) being one of them. At the same time, we try to stress the links between energy transitions and communication, with a particular attention to the implications of those links for the relations of power within human societies
SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE, 2016
Il presente articolo propone una serie di preliminari riflessioni sul mix sociale quale introduzi... more Il presente articolo propone una serie di preliminari riflessioni sul mix sociale quale introduzione alla successiva sezione tematica. La questione relativa agli esiti della prossimita sociale e spaziale tra le differenze non e certo estranea alla tradizione sociologica. Tuttavia, negli ultimi vent’anni la problematica del mix e tornata ad essere centrale come dispositivo di governo nelle aree metropolitane nordamericane ed europee. Nella attuale configurazione neoliberale del welfare state, e quello specificatamente abitativo, in termini territoriali tale aspetto ha assunto una preminenza nelle politiche urbane. La promozione a livello di quartiere del social mix attraverso la coabitazione con segmenti di popolazione caratterizzati da maggiori risorse sociali, economiche e culturali raffigura una strategia assai diffusa nel contrasto alla crescente marginalizzazione e segregazione dei gruppi sociali ed etnici piu vulnerabili. Gli effetti di questa impostazione risultano deboli rispetto agli obiettivi previsti. In tal senso, la logica del social mix appare viziata da una retorica dell’azione pubblica in cerca di legittimita che occulta i processi di disuguaglianza e da una visione deterministica sui rapporti tra spazio e societa. Da queste criticita e necessario partire per comprendere le effettive potenzialita del social mix quale vettore di mutamento.
Excursus sui più recenti approcci d'impostazione marxista alla sociologia ambientale e, in pa... more Excursus sui più recenti approcci d'impostazione marxista alla sociologia ambientale e, in particolare, a quelli di T. Benton, J. O'Connor, P. Dickens e J.B. Foster.
Si tratta di un contributo di ricerca, nell'ambito del progetto Prin 2006 sui conflitti ambie... more Si tratta di un contributo di ricerca, nell'ambito del progetto Prin 2006 sui conflitti ambientali, relativo alla governance e ai conflitti che si sviluppano intorno all'installazione di impianti eolici sull'Appennino abruzzese. Particolare rilievo viene dato al ruolo delle expertise nei processi decisionali e nella depoliticizzazione delle issue. This paper exposes a qualitative investigation concerning governance and conflicts about wind energy plants realization on Abruzzo's (Italy) mountains. Particular attention is due to the role of the expertises in decisional processes and in depoliticizing energy issues
I saggi raccolti nel volume sono l'esito di ricerche empiriche e riflessioni teoriche sul tem... more I saggi raccolti nel volume sono l'esito di ricerche empiriche e riflessioni teoriche sul tema della convivenza interetnica nei contesti urbani in Italia. Le articolate dinamiche di costruzione della cosiddetta società multiculturale passano attraverso il quotidiano confronto all'interno della prossimità socio-spaziale tra autoctoni e stranieri. Da tempo l'habitat delle città italiane è profondamente mutato, in particolare nelle zone popolari in cui si è radicata la maggior parte delle famiglie immigrate nel loro percorso di inserimento e d'integrazione. I diversi casi studio riguardano quartieri delle grandi aree urbane - Roma e Milano - e quartieri di città di media dimensione - Padova, Bologna, Pesaro, Bergamo e Palermo - nei quali da tempo si sono venute a strutturare le differenti modalità di convivenza interetnica. Convivenze in cui si esplicitano nei rapporti tra i diversi gruppi talune difficoltà, talvolta conflitti, sovente causate dalle condizioni di esclus...
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Papers by Alfredo Agustoni