Intolerant, underpaid, under-educated, obsessed with social networks and above all angry. This is the picture of Italians that emerges from 52nd Censis report on the social situation of the country, which Censis publishes on its website under the title "Italy preys on psychic sovereignty". "The disappointment for the fading recovery and for the expected miraculous change has enraged the Italians", claims the report, indicating that "sometimes it takes on the paranoid profiles of the hunt for the scapegoat, when malice ‒ after and beyond rancor ‒ becomes the cynical lever of an alleged redemption and unfolds in a latent, individualized, pulviscular conflict”.
The Italy photographed by Censis is now the European Union country with the lowest share of citizens who claim to have reached a better socio-economic condition than that of their parents: 23%, against an EU average of 30%, the 43% in Denmark, 41% in Sweden, 33% in Germany. 96% of people with low education and 89% of those with low income they are convinced that they will remain in their current condition, believing it unrealistic to be able to become wealthy in one's lifetime. 56,3% of Italians tell Censis that it is not true that things in our country have really begun to change.
SECURITY AND IMMIGRANTS
One of the most heartfelt issues, perhaps the most heartfelt, is that linked to immigration, as emerged from the same elections of last March 4th. 63% of Italians see immigration from non-EU countries negatively (compared to an EU average of 52%) and 45% also from EU countries (compared to an average of 29%). The most hostile towards non-EU citizens are the most fragile Italians: 71% of those over 55 and 78% of the unemployed, while the figure drops to 23% among entrepreneurs. 58% of Italians think that immigrants take jobs away from our compatriots, 63% that they represent a burden on our welfare system and only 37% underline their favorable impact on the economy. For 75% immigration increases the risk of crime.
Not only that: the "unbearableness" of others clears prejudices, even those previously unmentionable. Differences from others are perceived as dangers to be protected from: 69,7% of Italians would not like Roma as neighbours, 69,4% people with drug or alcohol addictions. 52% are convinced that more is being done for immigrants than for Italians, a figure that reaches 57% among people with low incomes. With regard to the future, despite the election of a government that promises the best from this point of view, 35,6% of Italians are pessimistic because they scan the horizon with disappointment and fear. And even 63,6% are convinced that no one defends their interests and identity and that they have to think about it alone (and the share rises to 72% among those with low educational qualifications and 71,3% among those who can only count on low incomes).
WAGES AND POVERTY
Obviously the wickedness also and above all arises from economic problems: the purchasing power of Italian families is still 6,3% lower in real terms than in 2008, and the gap in consumption between the various social groups has visibly widened . Between 2000 and 2017 in our country the average annual wage increased by only 1,4% in real terms. The difference is just over 400 euros per year, 32 euros more if considered over 13 months. In the same period, the increase was 13,6% in Germany, almost 5.000 euros more per year, and in France more than 6.000 euros, ie 20,4 percentage points more. If in 2000 the Italian average salary represented 83% of the German one, in 2017 it dropped to 74% and the gap widened by 9 points. Between 2007 and 2017, employed people between the ages of 25 and 34 decreased by 27,3%, i.e. over one and a half million fewer young workers.
“ALL THE SAME” POLITICIANS
Half of Italians trivially believe that "politicians are all the same". This led to the confirmation and consolidation of abstentionism. The non-voting area in Italy is made up of 13,7 million people in the Chamber and 12,6 million in the Senate: they are abstentions and voters with no or no ballots in the last general elections. The percentage of the non-vote area out of the total number of entitled persons rose from 11,3% in 1968 to 23,5% in 1996, up to 29,4% in 2018. Not to mention the climate of trust in other European countries: on the eve of the 2014 European elections, in the midst of the crisis, the citizens of the 28 states who declared they trusted the EU were 31%, or 11 points less of the value recorded in the spring of this year (42%). But Italy is not part of the group of countries protagonists of this increase: the fear of being left without a job is expressed by 83% of citizens in Greece and by 69% in Italy, against a European average of only 44%.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Less and less educated Italians, compared to investments in GDP and in comparison with other European countries. Censis notes that Italy invests 3,9% of GDP in education and training, against a European average of 4,7%. Only Slovakia (3,8%), Romania (3,7%), Bulgaria (3,4%) and Ireland (3,3%) invest less than us. Between 2014 and 2017, Italian graduates aged 30-34 increased from 23,9% to 26,9%, but in the same period the EU average rose from 37,9% to 39,9%: a good 13 points more percentages. Early dropouts from education in 2017 concerned 14% of young people aged 18-24, against an EU average of 10,6%.
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND FAKE NEWS
A contradiction is consumed on social networks: on the one hand, Italians use them more and more and think that through the Internet anyone can easily achieve success, in addition to being able to find answers to all questions; on the other hand, the function of social networks in political communication is defined as useless or even harmful by 52,9% of Italians. Today 78,4% of Italians use the Internet, 73,8% smartphones with mobile connections and 72,5% social networks. In the case of young people (14-29 years) the percentages rise respectively to 90,2%, 86,3% and 85,1%. Overall household consumption has not yet returned to pre-crisis levels (-2,7% in real terms in 2017 compared to 2007), but spending on telephones has more than tripled over the decade (+221,6%): in the last year, 23,7 billion euros were spent on mobile phones, telephony services and data traffic.
“And we ended up sacrificing every myth, star and hero on the altar of subjectivism, boosted in our years by the digital celebration of the self. In the biomedia era, in which one is worth a star, we are all stars. Or no one, in reality, is anymore”, argues Censis. Half of the population (49,5%) she is convinced that today anyone can become famous (the figure rises to 53,3% among young people aged 18-34). A third (30,2%) believes that popularity on social networks is a "fundamental" ingredient for being a celebrity, as if it were talent or skills acquired through study (the figure rises to 41,6% among young people). But, at the same time, a quarter of Italians (24,6%) say that today stars simply no longer exist. And in any case, just one out of 10 claims to be inspired by them as myths to be taken as a model in one's life (9,9%). In addition, 41,8% believe they can find the answers to all questions on the internet (52,3% among young people).
And if it is true that the function of social networks in political communication is defined as useless or even harmful by 52,9% of Italians, it is also significant that 47,1% judge them on the contrary useful or valuable because they eliminate any filter in the relationship between citizens and political leaders.
WEDDINGS AND “SINGLETUDINE”
Italians seem to be less and less interested in weddings, especially religious ones (indeed, in a previous report, Censis had estimated that in 2031 there will no longer be marriage in the Church). Thus we marry less and less and leave each other more and more. From 2006 to 2016, marriages decreased by 17,4%, from 245.992 to 203.258. Religious marriages are decreasing above all (-33,6%), while civilian ones increased by 14,1%, to represent 46,9% of the total. Separations increased from 80.407 in 2006 to 91.706 in 2015 (+14%), while divorces, also due to the impulse of the law on short-term divorce, literally doubled, going from 49.534 in 2006 to 99.071 in 2016 (+100%). And "singleness" is growing: single non-widowed people increased by 50,3% from 2007 to 2017 and today they are just over 5 million.
