Managing Existence in Naples: Morality, Action and Structure

Auteur: 
Pardo, Italo
Niveau bibliographique: 
Collection: 
Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism
Maison d’édition: 
Cambridge University Press
Année: 
1996
Pages: 
1-118
Source: 
Google books
Notes: 
Volume 104 di Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism
Résumé: 

Italo Pardo has produced a thoughtful and original account of the moral life of Naples, a city in which the ethics of work, family and neighbourhood exist in complex relationship with the teachings of the church and, crucial to key processes of democracy, with the power and limitations of law, bureaucracy and government. Dr Pardo identifies the importance of strong continuous interaction between material and non-material aspects in the entrepreneurial strategies of the ordinary Neapolitan and shows the ways in which different ethical systems are negotiated in everyday life. Success is measured not only by material gain, but also by satisfying spiritual obligations and meeting the claims of intimate loyalties. This is one of the very few ethnographic studies of a European city; it questions old assumptions and raises fresh issues in the field of urban studies, demonstrating the significance of empirical analysis to mainstream debates in social theory.