The teaching of Social history aims to analyze the transformations related to the structures of contemporary societies, movements, classes, conditions of work and ways of life, families, local communities, urbanization, mobility, ethnic groups. The course therefore highlights the relationships between social, cultural and economic processes and social structures, as well as their impact on political institutions, the distribution of resources, social movements, shared worldviews, and forms of public and private behavior.
By the study of Social History the student will be able to achieve the following training objectives.
- Knowledge and understanding:
The student will be able to investigate cultures, mentalities, places, that – starting from second after war – cted as sensors / receptors of the messages that changed the system of values and needs: civil rights movements, politics of memory, school, family relationships, religious dissent, discourses on the body and sexuality, youth identity, exemplary spaces of the battle for the promotion of personal freedoms at the foundation of the citizens' statute.
- Applying knowledge and understanding:
The student will be able to to analyze, by the means of oral and audiovisual sources, the social dynamics, on the border between the public and private spheres, which led to the formation of a democratic, effective and supportive citizenship. Students are indeed actively involved in workshop-exercises based on the audiovisual repertoires (with the plurality
of mediums available, from documentaries to cinema, from sound recordings to iconographic representations: films, photographs, oral histories).
- Making judgements:
The student will be able to acquire a capacity for critical interpretation of reality, suited to challenge the dominant historical narratives, which were constructed around the mechanisms of the Nation building, by increasing instead the value of social change as a core dimension around which historical analysis and diagnosis of the contemporary world should be organized.
- Communication skills:
The student will be able to get abilities and skills in order to express complex political, social and juridical situations by acquiring new communication skills.
- Learning skills:
The student will be able to acquire: knowledge of the main dynamics of social change in Italian and European society since the second post-war period; autonomous and critical understanding of the mechanisms of the mediation and re-mediation of memory through the representative forms of collective imagination, which need to be considered in an
alternative manner to the dominant national interpretations of the past.
How to link with other teachings
The connection with the teachings of the History of Europe and of the Community institutions and Theories and practices of active citizenship is recommended.
By the study of Social History the student will be able to achieve the following training objectives.
- Knowledge and understanding:
The student will be able to investigate cultures, mentalities, places, that – starting from second after war – cted as sensors / receptors of the messages that changed the system of values and needs: civil rights movements, politics of memory, school, family relationships, religious dissent, discourses on the body and sexuality, youth identity, exemplary spaces of the battle for the promotion of personal freedoms at the foundation of the citizens' statute.
- Applying knowledge and understanding:
The student will be able to to analyze, by the means of oral and audiovisual sources, the social dynamics, on the border between the public and private spheres, which led to the formation of a democratic, effective and supportive citizenship. Students are indeed actively involved in workshop-exercises based on the audiovisual repertoires (with the plurality
of mediums available, from documentaries to cinema, from sound recordings to iconographic representations: films, photographs, oral histories).
- Making judgements:
The student will be able to acquire a capacity for critical interpretation of reality, suited to challenge the dominant historical narratives, which were constructed around the mechanisms of the Nation building, by increasing instead the value of social change as a core dimension around which historical analysis and diagnosis of the contemporary world should be organized.
- Communication skills:
The student will be able to get abilities and skills in order to express complex political, social and juridical situations by acquiring new communication skills.
- Learning skills:
The student will be able to acquire: knowledge of the main dynamics of social change in Italian and European society since the second post-war period; autonomous and critical understanding of the mechanisms of the mediation and re-mediation of memory through the representative forms of collective imagination, which need to be considered in an
alternative manner to the dominant national interpretations of the past.
How to link with other teachings
The connection with the teachings of the History of Europe and of the Community institutions and Theories and practices of active citizenship is recommended.
teacher profile teaching materials
The monographic part of the course reconstructs the history of the welfare state in a comparative and long-term perspective, to focus attention on the post-World War II era: the ups and downs of the welfare state in the western world, its parable and the challenges of major social changes, economic and demographic in place today. The European welfare state model is in crisis, in the face of the shock wave of the economic crisis and the continuing appeal of neoliberal theories. Yet the welfare state renews the attitude to intercept the changing needs of society and confirms the function of protecting citizens from the political and social traumas of the present time: from health to social security, from education to precarious forms of work, public policies for adult education, stories of social and professional groups, intercultural stories, generational and gender stories in the world of work.
Fulvio Conti, Gianni Silei, Breve storia dello Stato sociale, Nuova edizione, Roma, Carocci, 2018, pp. 256 [ISBN: 9788843069040]
Programme
It first moves through the enhancement of "making history" as "public history". History is a public matter, in contexts that transform different figures into public historians. The panorama of places, media and languages is wide: multimedia and interactive museums, shows and exhibitions, festivals and "processes", public cultural policies, investigative and arbitration commissions, social media. A peculiar "Italian way" to Public History has been produced, full of professional experiences and plural languages.The monographic part of the course reconstructs the history of the welfare state in a comparative and long-term perspective, to focus attention on the post-World War II era: the ups and downs of the welfare state in the western world, its parable and the challenges of major social changes, economic and demographic in place today. The European welfare state model is in crisis, in the face of the shock wave of the economic crisis and the continuing appeal of neoliberal theories. Yet the welfare state renews the attitude to intercept the changing needs of society and confirms the function of protecting citizens from the political and social traumas of the present time: from health to social security, from education to precarious forms of work, public policies for adult education, stories of social and professional groups, intercultural stories, generational and gender stories in the world of work.
Core Documentation
Maurizio Ridolfi, Verso la Public History. Fare e raccontare storia nel tempo presente, Pisa, Pacini, 2017, pp. 272 [ISBN: 978-88-6995-202-9]Fulvio Conti, Gianni Silei, Breve storia dello Stato sociale, Nuova edizione, Roma, Carocci, 2018, pp. 256 [ISBN: 9788843069040]
Type of delivery of the course
The course develops seminars and workshops that allow to enhance the role of sources (archival, written, oral, audio-visual, online) in "making history" and in building a critical approach towards social and cultural reality. Paths capable of combining social history with public history are promoted, enhancing their civil implications. Please Note: In the case of an extension of the health emergency from COVID-19, all the provisions that regulate the methods of carrying out the teaching activities will be implemented. In particular, the following methods will apply: a mixed course, which integrates distance lessons with the preparation of teaching materials on the moodle platform (video lessons, podcasts, commented slides), with interactions through discussion forums.Type of evaluation
The exam is oral and focuses on the contents of the two exam texts. The possibility of individual and group work aimed at investigating exemplary thematic paths in the conjugation between public history and social history is encouraged, through written and audio-visual documents. Please note. In the event of an extension of the health emergency from COVID-19, all the provisions governing the assessment methods will be implemented. In particular, the following methods will apply: the oral exam on the Teams platform.