The legitimacy of policies does not rest only on procedures that are formally correct, but on the quality of the information and real knowledge that support the planning of an intervention and guarantees that it tackles the «problem». But there was a crisis in the authority of expert knowledge in the 1970s. The article examines the reasons for this, the range of solutions suggested by the movement for participatory analysis and evaluation, and the criticisms raised by the results of these practices; in conclusion it identifies an alternative that at the moment has been left open. only subscribers can see the full article

Active labor market policies are characterized by a process of selection and construction of the informational basis that is considered relevant for grounding the appropriateness of choices on people’s entitlement, on their employment path and on the job position. In particular, disabled people’s employment paths are based on technical instruments of evaluation of the degree and the kind of disability; these define the recipients’ working identities and «inform» the employment programs by building up the conditions that promote capabilities. Thus, in this article we present a comparison between two governing instruments for disabled people’s employment in Italy. We compare a groundbreaking measure («Care budget») with standard devices. Our aim was to investigate how the different informational bases embedded in these instruments build up different paths toward employment and in which way they affect the disabled people’s participation and the promotion of their capabilities. only subscribers can see the full article

An important debate has developed in the last few years on the subject of social participation, centered above all on the study of the forms of participatory democracy and the relations between the main subjects of it. Almost all the studies on participation bring out the role of cognitive resources and the risks of information asymmetries between the various subjects taking part in the planning. The setting up of information social systems in the welfare field too has been the most suitable response for avoiding this risk. However, not all the information systems guarantee the same level of participation, and so theory and the use of ideal types can be used to identify the various possible models and the type of participation preferred for each. only subscribers can see the full article

In this work we offer an interpretation of the difficulties for women in reconciling work and care of family members. Welfare in Italian families has traditionally rested on the care work of women, mothers, daughters and grandmothers. This has notably restricted both their work and fertility choices. However, this model is now in crisis for demographic and sustainability reasons of various kinds.only subscribers can see the full article

In Italy there are now about one million immigrant workers who are trade-union members. Various researchers have spoken of an Italian peculiarity in this connection, due to the particular commitment of the Italian unions to helping and accompanying migrants in the process of social, administrative and political integration, in which it is often difficult even to exercise their recognized rights. The article brings out how this success, in a context of profound changes in the labour market and employment structure, now makes it particularly urgent for the unions to face the problem of meeting the growing request for participation that is emerging from the immigrant component of Italian workers.only subscribers can see the full article