Cultural warfare and trust
Fighting the Mafia in Palermo
Carina Gunnarson
Cultural warfare and trust: fighting the mafia in Palermo concentrates
on a central issue in research on democratic processes, the
development of generalised trust. The existence of generalised trust
and confidence in a society is decisive for economic development and
an effective democracy. Is it possible to fight persistent values of
distrust and non-co-operation? Is it possible to support the
development of generalised trust through public action and education?
The book addresses these questions by examining political efforts to
combat Palermo’s mafia-controlled heritage and to turn a tradition of
non-co-operation and distrust into co-operation and trust. In
particular, it focuses on the school program launched in Palermo
during the mid 1990s, which was designed to break the mafia’s
territorial and mental control.
Fusing theories from the discourses of social capital and civic
education, the author presents and analyses new quantitative and
qualitative research carried out in seven public schools in Palermo.
This book will be valuable to students, academics and researchers
interested in social capital and trust, Italian politics, civic
education, organised crime, local government and democratic practice.
Contents
Tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. The origins of generalised trust
3. Methods
4. Mafia agency
5. Cultural warfare
6. Students’ trust in political institutions
7. Students’ perceptions of generalised trust
8. Explaining generalised trust
9. The letter project - students’ own stories
10. Conclusion
Appendice A
References
Index
Carina Gunnarson is a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of
Government, Uppsala University
Perspectives on Democratic Practice
216x138mm 224pp
01 February 2008
hb 9780719076725 £55.00
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/catalogue/book.asp?id=1600
----------------------------------------
Tommaso Vitale
Dipartimento di Sociologia e della Ricerca Sociale
Università di Milano Bicocca
via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, 8
20126 Milano
tel: ++39.02 6448 7477
fax: ++39.02 6448 7561
skype: tomvita
http://homepage.mac.com/tommaso.vitale/
