For Frank Ferrarotti, the father of sociology in Italy of which the publisher Marietti has just published all the most important works in 6 volumes for a total of 5 pages, the pandemic is a bit like the last world war ("But the war on the virus generates more anguish because the enemy is mysterious") but, as happened after the war, "the hope is that Italy will find, as then, a burst of vitality and the energy to restart".
Interviewing Ferrarotti is a great privilege because every conversation with him is a bit like a journey through the history of humanity but with eyes turned to the future. The effects of the pandemic and the new inequalities, the risks of withdrawing into individualism but also the return to inner reflection, the new relationships between science, technology and society, the importance of vaccines ("getting vaccinated is a civil obligation"), the intergenerational conflicts (“Young people risk being the major victims of the pandemic") and the hope that in the end we will be able to "make good use of the crisis", which beyond the tragedy also has positive aspects, among which the awakening of Europe and the great opportunity of the Recovery Plan. Of all this, with the wisdom of the great scholar and the usual intellectual vivacity, Ferrarotti speaks in this exclusive interview with FIRSTonline. Let's listen to it.
Professor Ferrarotti, a year has passed since the beginning of the pandemic: how has Italy changed and how have Italians changed since the arrival and spread of Covid-19?
“The national character of a people does not change in just one year, but the persistence of the Coronavirus is unfortunately having a drastic influence on everyday life and the habits of Italians have certainly changed and are changing under the weight of isolation at home and loneliness . The withdrawal into individualism is evident”.
In fact, the diffusion of information technology and the Internet, as you wrote in a pamphlet in recent years, had already accentuated the tendency towards individualism in modern society, but social distancing has given it another overbearing push: what effects can the pandemic have on the cohesion of society and will it really be possible, after the trauma of Covid, to return to a new normality of social relations?
“The tendency towards individualism was already there before the pandemic, induced by the possibility of connecting via the web to the most distant places on the planet in a sort of global village which is certainly an important novelty of our era but which has been and is often lived self-referentially. Individualism disaggregates society and loneliness forces us to turn in on ourselves, discouraging the formation of groups: the decline of political parties also stems from this. Naturally, even with these great limitations, not all of the present is to be thrown away and individualism, imposed by circumstances, forces us to rethink ourselves and rediscover the inner life after an era of great openness to the world”.
In the past you carried out very important sociological research on the sacred in contemporary society: do you think that the pandemic can increase religiosity?
"In a certain way, yes. The concept of the sacred is opposed to that of the profane and should be understood as a value that transcends the more instrumental values than those of the market, which are completely legitimate but which cannot appropriate functions that do not belong to the market. In a capitalist system, the market economy has no alternatives but we must be careful not to transform it into a market society in which utilitarian relationships prevail over interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the sacred is also important in contemporary society because it makes us understand that we need a bank, a base of support, a point of reference removed from pure self-interest".
Professor, you lived through the Second World War and the post-war period: what is the difference between that Italy and this one that is experiencing the pandemic?
“Yes, I personally experienced the Second World War but also the civil war and the anti-fascist resistance. I remember those years well and if I think of the Italy of the pandemic I cannot fail to see the parallelism with the war years: we are faced with two situations of crisis and emergency which largely coincide, even if - unlike then - the war against the virus generates more anguish because the enemy is mysterious and the battlefield is less clear. My hope is that we know how to make good use of the crisis and that Italy, as happened in the last post-war period, is able to find a burst of vitality and the energy to restart not only economically and socially but also after the pandemic. also demographic".
Covid-19 has called into question some major issues of our time such as the relationship between science, technology and society and has had a strong impact not only on health, but also on work (for those who have it) and on school with smart working and distance learning: are these new ways of working and studying steps forward or backwards and will they partly remain even after the pandemic?
“Smart working and distance learning are remedies imposed by the emergency with respect to which objections in principle are not valid but which should not be considered eternal. As a great musician like Nicola Piovani rightly recalled, one cannot get used to making music only on the web. However, if unions and entrepreneurs have the necessary mental agility, smart working can represent a way out even after the pandemic compared to excessive urban gatherings. Personally, however, I have reservations about forms of communication, at work and at school, which are so distant, which cancel out physical presence and body language, especially in a people like ours, which invented the stroll as a great social pact, and which is used to talking with hands. Let's be clear: nothing against technique and technology but let's remember that technique is an instrumental and not a final value and must be democratically governed".
Does it mean that, if not well managed, smart working and distance learning can increase social inequalities?
“If there is one positive aspect that has emerged from the tragedy of the crisis, it is precisely the fact that the crisis has revealed the tremendous social disparities and inequalities we are surrounded by. It's quick to think about distance learning but what happens if the children in the poorest families don't have a computer? And how do you work at home when you live in cramped apartments? Crises must be used well and acknowledging inequalities must be the first step to shorten them”.
The long-awaited arrival of the anti-Covid vaccines appears as a great victory for science at the service of society but so far it has not been enough to erase the ideological prejudices of the No Vax: does he not believe that, at least for health personnel and public employees who work in schools or on means of transport, can and should the priority defense of everyone's health lead to compulsory vaccinations?
“The country faces a great educational task to explain and convince even those who are doubtful about the usefulness of the vaccine in the face of the conspiratorial mentality of the No Vaxes strengthened by the mystery of Covid. We must make everyone understand that the rights of the community must prevail over those of individuals. Vaccination is a civil obligation and it is not a heresy to think of its obligation. On the other hand, I am against the introduction of health licenses because distinguishing between vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens does not seem to me a wise choice ”.
The pandemic and vaccinations have also brought to light an intergenerational conflict between young and old which was already latent but which risks becoming explosive in the face of the cruelty of the question, which has surfaced in some Swiss hospitals, as to who to save first in the face of the aggressiveness of the Covid and the insufficiency of the health system: what are your thoughts on this?
“The intergenerational conflict is partly physiological because the formation of young people occurs naturally against the previous generation. But civil awareness should help manage generational turnover processes and prevent conflicts from becoming incurable. Respect and support for the elderly cannot be separated from the consideration that the new generations risk being the greatest victims of the pandemic because they pay the price of an endless precariousness and now also that of the social isolation imposed by the circumstances".
Professor, earlier we compared the pandemic crisis with the war crisis but also today as in the post-war period - then with the Marshall Plan and today with the Recovery Fund - Italy is facing an extraordinary and unrepeatable opportunity for economic and social rebirth : will we be able to exploit it despite the weakness of the political class and the current technostructure?
“The awakening of Europe, which from a club of quarrelsome countries has made itself home and has relaunched the authentic European spirit, is another of the positive aspects of the crisis which contrast with the tragedy of the pandemic which in turn, in its global dimension , prompted us to rediscover the value of the human family. The Recovery Plan and the expansionary monetary policy of the ECB are very important fruits of this dramatic season. It would be a crime for Italy not to seize the opportunity it has before it, but the ruling class and not just the political class need to find courage, determination, vision and the ability to make the most of their skills. It's time to get out of the vetoes and counter-vetoes and immobilism that block the country and this is the right opportunity to do so. Choosing is difficult but problems cannot be solved by postponing them”.
