Sociological and Economic Change in the Peasant Society of Troina, Sicily
| Author: | Jansen, Clifford Jansen, Anton | |
| Year: | 1992 | |
| Pages: | 200 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-9469-3 978-0-7734-9469-5 | |
| Price: | $159.95 + shipping | |
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A study conducted in 1963-64 in a small village in the Sicilian interior focused on how people could improve their living standard through cooperation. In 1988-89, two persons who worked on the original study returned to the same village. Troina has 2,000 fewer inhabitants, no factory exists, and unemployment is still high. However, new houses have been built, cars are to be seen everywhere. Miseria (extreme poverty) is a thing of the past. Despite this, locals still consider the future with insecurity, and the younger generations see no alternative to emigration. The present study explores this contradiction.
Reviews
"This study is a rich, original and compellingly comprehensive study of various stages of development and transformation of a local community. . . . The discussion of the relationship between the local community and the more centralized state authorities is also very persuasive and in a number of instances sheds new light on the interactions between state politics and assisted or "colonized" communities. The authors have used this focus skilfully and profitably. . . . The book breaks new ground by focussing on the processual and structural dimensions of community life and by confronting directly the conditions and consequences of social change. . . . catalytic in its ability to transform readers into active observers and encouraging them to unravel the promises and paradoxes of Troina. . . . suitable for many audiences, from those more oriented towards multi-disciplinary accounts, cultural studies, Italian studies, sociology of communities, social history, to the more curious general public readers." - L. A. Visano in Scholarly Research and Review