AIS

Pittura e sociologia. Alcune considerazioni teoriche e un caso di studio: Vincent van Gogh [Painting and Sociology. Theoretical Perspectives and a Case Study: Vincent van Gogh]

Mariano Longo, Angela Maria Zocchi

This essay analyzes the complex relationship between concepts and pictorial representations and proposes ways in which sociology can use paintings as a theoretical stimulus and as a source of reflection on the social world. It argues that paintings should not be regarded merely as objects of sociological observation (as is typical in the sociology of art), but also as tools for sociological research and as data sources in their own right. The paper presents examples of how paintings have been used in social research and theoretical reflection. In the final section, it focuses on selected works by Vincent van Gogh and explores how they might be interpreted through Hartmut Rosa’s concept of resonance.

Keywords: creative methods, painting, sociology, painting and sociological analysis, resonance

L’economia di piattaforma tra sociologia e diritto del lavoro. I rider e il caso studio dell’Italia [The platform economy between sociology and labour law. Riders and the case study of Italy]

Giorgio Pirina, Francesco Pontarelli

Using as a case study the on-demand food delivery service via app in Italy, the article offers a reflection that places labour sociology and labour law in a dialogical perspective. The challenges posed by the economic-productive model of the platform economy have strengthened the controversies related to labour regulation and worker protection, also exacerbating the crisis of the dual paradigm of labour law concerning the dichotomy subordination/autonomy. The article highlights a line of continuity from the introduction of laws that have increased the precarisation of the labour market in the early 1990s to the emergence of the platform economy. The case of food delivery service in Italy is particularly revealing of this challenge and of the ambiguities regarding the use by lean digital platforms of precarious contract types, in which technological intermediation plays the role of obfuscation and circumvention of the labour relationship between lean digital platform and workers.

Keywords: platform economy, labour Law and regulation, food delivery riders, Italian labour market, precarious employment

Essere vegani. Lifestyles emergenti tra pratiche, significati e posizionamento sociale [Being vegan. Emerging lifestyles between practices, meanings, and social positioning]

Carlo Genova, Alessia Toldo

The question underpinning the article is whether it is possible and heuristically useful to interpret veganism as a lifestyle. Drawing on a qualitative interview-based study conducted in Turin, the article analyses the distinctive practices, meanings, and positioning dynamics that characterise it, showing how, depending on the case, veganism may take shape either as a dietary regime or as a lifestyle influencing life as a whole; may stem from animalist and antispeciesist motivations or from more complex frameworks of meaning; may involve harmonious interactions with omnivores or, conversely, friction and conflict; and how, therefore, different approaches to veganism, as well as different vegan lifestyles, can be identified.

Keywords: veganism, practices, meanings, positioning, lifestyles

Exploring the evolution and impact of the School-to-Work Alternance in Italy: the point of view of tutors from the host organisations

Brunella Fiore, Federico Paleardi, Sara Recchi

This article analyses the educational value and effectiveness of Percorsi per le Competenze Trasversali e l’Orientamento (PCTOs – Paths for Transversal Skills and Orientation) in Italy from the perspective of external tutors in host organisations. Based on a mixed-methods design, it explores how tutors interpret the aims, practices, and outcomes of PCTOs within the evolving framework of school-to-work policies. Although European and national guidelines present PCTOs as instruments for developing transversal competences and facilitating school-to-work transitions, empirical results reveal persistent differences related to school type, organisational structure, and territorial context. By linking these findings to the broader Italian debate on educational inequalities, the article interprets PCTOs not merely as policy mechanisms but as social devices through which educational differentiation and local disparities are reproduced or, in some cases, challenged.

Keywords: school-to-work alternance, PCTOs effectiveness, educational inequalities, host organisations, general technical and VET schools

La governance delle politiche migratorie a Palermo [The governance of migration policies in Palermo]

Giovanni Frazzica, Giulio Gerbino, Gaetano Gucciardo

This essay deals with the governance of reception and integration processes in the city of Palermo, in the context of the European project Horizon «Global Answer». A series of interviews with political representatives, civil servants, third sector representatives and migrant communities provided a governance picture complex and articulated with elements of fragmentation that deserve special attention. For years, the Municipality of Palermo has taken a leading role in the SAI network and through the Casa dei Diritti, which offers a first access service open to all immigrants and coordinates the SAI network itself. General criticalities emerge from our survey, also due to the persistence of linguistic and cultural barriers, also in education and health services. 

Keywords: governance, migration, reception, integration, social work

In a world full of lies, the truth is crazy. La paranoia memetica della Red Pill [In a world full of lies, the truth is crazy. The memetic paranoia of the Red Pill]

Fabrizio Arcuri

Paranoia, understood as a widespread and institutionalized form of latent fear, can be seen as a specific configuration of social imaginary. Through the humor of memes, it manifests as memetic paranoia, capable of triggering processes of radicalization, particularly among younger audiences. This paper analyzes the spread of a specific configuration of paranoid imaginary, that of Red Pill Theory, the Manosphere ideology that blames women and woke culture for male issues. The research adopts an ethnographic approach conducted on TikTok, the platform most characterized by meme language.

Keywords: Red Pill, paranoia, meme, TikTok, Manosphere

Intervista a Mario Aldo Toscano [Interview with Mario Aldo Toscano]

Luca Corchia

In this long interview, Mario Aldo Toscano, former President of the AIS from 1992 to 1995, talks with Luca Corchia, who was one of his main students in his long career as a university professor. Toscano offers valuable elements of knowledge and food for thought from a twofold point of view. On the one hand, to reconstruct the memory of some crucial phases in the development of Sociology in Italy. On the other hand, to project itself into the future, opening up to dialogue with young sociologists on the current difficulties of the discipline and the prerequisites for overcoming them.

Keywords: interview, Mario Aldo Toscano, Italian Sociology, University of Pisa, Italian Sociological Association