Small-firm development, political subcultures and neo-localism in Italy

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(1)DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES. 320. EUR. E U I. W O R K I N G. P A P E R. No. 85/189. SMALL-FIRM DEVELOPMENT, POLITICAL SUBCULTURES AND NEO-LOCALISM IN ITALY by CARLO TRIGILIA. European University Institute Università di Firenze. BADIA FIESOLANA, SAN DOMENICO (FI). © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE.

(2) in whole or in part without the prior permission of the author. (c ). CARLO TRIGILIA. Printed in Italy in August 1985 Badia Fiesolana 50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) ITALY. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. This paper should not be reproduced.

(3) Fellow was. paper. at. the. presented. Economic. was. written. during. my. stay as a Jean Monnet. European University Institute. at. the. workshop. on. An earlier draft. "Political. Adjustments to. Problems at the Local Level in Britain and Italy" which. was held at the Institute on February 27-28, 1985.. I. should. Political Budge, Philippe paper .. and John. like Social. to. express Sciences,. Goldthorpe,. Jean. my thanks to the Department of E.U.I. Padioleau,. I. am grateful to Ian Marino. Regini. and. Schmitter for their comments on the first draft of this. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. This.

(4) © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. J.

(5) PREFACE. for. The. importance. the. Italian. recognized.. and. social. that. decisions.. areas.. last. can. be. ten. years. is. widely. seen as one of the most. the at. the. of. central. been. These. technology,. 1970s.. The. term. "adjustment". process was largely unplanned, though. absence. resources. opportunities. the. it. by political decisions or, more frequently, non. fact,. political. of. this. In. interventions in. the. development. tensions. influenced. has,. in. aspects of the process of adjustment to the economic. emphasizes was. economy. This. significant. that the development of small firms has had. based which. allowed. effective. long-term. economic. level, the growth of small firms. on. certain. v/ere. economic,. social. and. widely available in some local. smaller productive units to avail of the. for development which were opened up by changes in. in the organisation of work and in market structures.. Furthermore,. the. strengthening. of. the. unions in large- firms,. which occurred in the early 1970s, contributed, especially in the initial. stages,. to the growth of small firms.. The study of the. political economy of small firms and of its relationship with the overall. political. economy. seems,. therefore,. particularly. interesting in the Italian context.. The Tuscany, located. regions Umbria,. in the. principally. which. small. firms. predominate,. Emilia,. Marches, Veneto, Trentino and Friuli, are in the centre and north-east of the country. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 1.

(6) though. the. where,. however, the large firms undergoing restructuring and the. large. phenomenon. metropolitan. and. in. the. associated Italy". areas. south,. with. is. where. also. to be found in the north-west,. are, for the most part, concentrated, the. major. underdevelopment.. problems. The. regions. remain. those. of the "Third. are, therefore, characterized, from the economic point of. view, by the marked predominance of small and medium-sized firms: about. 80%. of. productive. those. employed. in. industry. is concentrated in. units of less than 200 employees,. the average size is. less than 10 employees per unit and this average decreased during the 1970s.. Indicators such as the rate of growth of value-added,. investment, of. industry. productivity and employment show the marked dynamism in. these. areas.. The. "traditional". sectors. industry - textiles, clothing, shoes and furniture but. of. predominate. there is also a significant development of "modern" sectors,. particularly. the. machine tool industry.. Small firms tend to be. found. clustered together in "industrial districts",. form. integrated. specialization.. territorial These. systems. districts. with. usually. that is they. strong. sectorial. coincide. with small. urban areas and consist of one or more communes.. Numerous been. carried. relationship context however,. in to. economic out.. These. between which the. studies. this. occurs.. of. the small-firm economy have. clearly form Less. indicate. of. that. there. is a. development and the social. attention. has. been devoted,. role of the local political context.. regions which are most typical of small firm development. Yet, the (as well. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 2.

(7) as. similar. areas. in. Piedmont. and. Lombardy). are. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 3. usually. characterized by the existence of specific subcultures.. In these. areas, one often finds the predominance of a particular political tradition, the. whose. century. origins generally go back to the beginnings of. and. a. complex. of institutions (parties,. interest. groups and cultural and welfare structures) which derive from the same politico-ideological matrix. The central regions, which were originally. socialist. in. orientation,. are. now. Communist. strongholds while there is a deeply-rooted Catholic subculture in the regions of the north-east. (Fig.l).. Insert Figure 1 here. The. purpose. of. this. article. is to draw attention to the. political context of "diffuse industrialization", particularly to those. aspects. effects. on. the. concern. industrial. government. an. that. I. relations. economy,. political subcultures. rendered present. even. to. and. its. on the activity of local. role in the forms of regulation of. especially. in. the context of strong. The role of the local political system is. more important by the process of modernization at. underway.. however,. and. representation. shall try to show that these aspects have played. important, though varying, small-firm. interest. The following observations are not intended,. provide. development. of. development. and. small. a. comprehensive. firms. and. of. interpretation the. the institutional context.. links. of. between. the this. The aim is, rather,.

(8) to. contribute to the analysis of the political economy of small-. firm. areas. by. generally, localism" in. the. focusing. overlooked.. on. certain. factors. For these purposes,. which have been,. the concept of "neo. is put forward and the role of this type of regulation "success". of. the. small. firm. economy. as well as the. constraints that it seems to impose on the process of development are discussed.. the. Despite. importance. diffuse. development,. of. the. industrialization. local. level. affects. not. for. it s. only. the. "periphery". It also influences and is conditioned by the central political. economy.. therefore,. to a discussion of some hypotheses on the relationship. between. The. neo-localism. final. part of the article is devoted,. on the one hand and central "concertation". involving government and interest groups on the other. phenomena, years, to. which. have. These two. attracted increasing attention in recent. are usually considered separately. We shall, however,. elucidate. the. consequences. of. their. try. "contradictory • co. existence" .. Some. preliminary. neo-localism analysis.. is It. warnings. used in an ideal-typical sense in the following cannot. be. mechanisms. of. regulation. areas. is. it. nor. considerably is,. are necessary. The concept of. from. directly. to. describe. the. that prevail in individual small-firm. intended area. applied. to. reduce. adjustments. to area to a single model.. that. vary. Its purpose. rather, to identify some general features that can be found,. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 4.

(9) to. a. greater. situations. results. or. The. of. a. lesser. observations. research. characteristics. of. of. subcultures,. Bassano. an. project. two. typical. in. the. this on. areas. concrete. theme are based on the. the. areas.. various. social. and political. The project consisted of with. differing. political. in Veneto and Valdelsa in Tuscany, as well. anlaysis of some current trends in the central and north. eastern. regions.. representation the. on. small-firm. case-studies. as. extent,. aims. research. at. of data. hypotheses. In. Veneto. and. Tuscany, a study on interest. a regional level was also carried out.. the. present. article,. is. limited. and is used mainly to illustrate the. presented.. Moreover,. however,. Given. only. those. reference to the. aspects which are. directly related to the themes considered are touched upon (1).. Dualism or neo-localism?. It is not necessary to provide a detailed account of the f-he problématique of research on small firms in any detail here. our. purposes,. The. interpretations. form In. of the. it is sufficient to recall some essential points.. development early. differentiation production, small. firms. For. of. the origins and characteristics of this. have been progressively refined over time.. stages,. in. of. labour. the. the. wake market. of. the. debate. on. the. and decentralization of. the emphasis was on the idea that the development of was induced. and brought about, principally, by the. attempt of larger firms to circumvent the restrictions imposed on. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 5.

(10) them. by. the unions by devolving parts of the productive process. to smaller firms. Their aim was to reduce labour costs and to re establish the flexibility of the work-force. This. initial. developments.. cutting. These. decentralization. labour. costs.. introduced. These. specialization. were. later complicated by various in some areas, the. between firms could not be wholly explained by the. of. increased. was. Economic research showed that,. relationships phenomenon. conception. (2).. and. for the purposes of. relationships. division. of. often. entailed. labour among firms.. rooted in economies, external to the single units of. production, but internal to the industrial district in which they were. located. technology. (3).. and. The. the. same. growth. studies stressed that changes in. of demand for non-standarized goods. enhanced the chances of autonomy and innovation for small firms.. At. the. same. sociologically. time,. another. oriented,. line. contributed. of to. research, the. this one. clarification of. certain essential points. It was pointed out that small firms are concentrated,. mainly,. (Bagnasco,1977).. In. in. the central and north-eastern regions. these. areas. a. trend. of. autonomous. development emerged.. This was not primarily brought about by the. decentralization. existing production, though it was combined. with. the. of. latter. specialization institutions. of and. in. various. ways. according. to the sectorial. industrial districts. The role of traditional identities is considered, by this approach, to. be an important variable in the development of small firms and in. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 6.

(11) the. acceptance of this development by the local communities.. In. particular, some studies have examined the characteristics of the family and its relationship with the small firm economy from this perspective (Ardigo, Donati, 1976; Paci, e d ., 1980 ).. Our. research can also be located within this approach.. specific. The. objective, however was not only to explore the original. institutional context but also to indicate the influence that the changes. occurring. development.. family. or. this. context. can. have. for. economic. The results of this research indicate that diffuse. industrialization structure. in. is. supported. by. a. complex. institutional. which consists, not only of social components like the the. local. community, but also of a specific form of. interest representation which influences industrial relations and the. activity. exercised. of. in. the. and. government.. Of course, caution must be. any attempt to generalize from individual local or. regional cases. market. local. The equilibrium which is established between the. social and political structures in the regulation of. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 7. small-firm economy, in fact, vary considerably, from area to. area.. It. strong. subculture. particular. seems,. nevertheless, provides. forms. industrialization.. of. matrices,. occurs. the. and. resources polit ical. Obviously,. subcultural. possible to hypothesize that a. as. which. are favourable to. regulation we. of. diffuse. shall see, the different. the. period in which economic development. sectorial. specificity of the various areas all. influence this process..

(12) Even with these limitations, question early. a. widespread. discussions. underestimates workers. involved. recently. define used. in. in. this in. (which. the by. of. interest. small-firm John. in. representation. economy.. Goldthorpe. some Western countries, approach. is influenced by the. the decentralization of production) which. importance. proposed. tendencies. conception. on. the. there is sufficient evidence to. to. Using a concept analyze. current. including Italy, we could. terms of dualism.. The concept is not. the accepted definitive meaning of the term in economic. literature but refers exclusively to interest representation. is. of. used. with. reference. to. forms. of. It. political economy which. involve the development of productive and occupational situations in which the representation of workers' is. excluded. workforce,. or. strongly. the. interests by trade unions. discouraged.. prevalence. of. The. precarious. use and. of a migrant illegal. work. relations. and the development of productive decentralization and. of. firms. small. political firm. economy.. economy. large. are. firm. considered From. this. as. indicators of this type of. perspective, therefore, a small. is seen as one pole of a dualism which, unlike the and. unionized. sectors,. is regulated, primarily, by. market mechanisms.. In at. reality,. least. as. indicated. a. more. far. above,. overlooked.. however,. things appear to be more complicated,. as Italy is concerned. is. certainly. present. Dualism, and. it. in the sense should not be. Nevertheless, the development of small firms demands. articulated. interpretative model.. In this regard it is. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 8.

(13) necessary to draw attention to two aspects in particular. the. data. reduced a. acquired. so. far. show. First,. that the phenomenon cannot be. to a process of fragmentation of production motivated by. search. for. workforce.. low. In. small-firm. labour. the. costs and greater flexibility of the. more. economy. autonomous. union. and advanced parts of the. representation is, usually, present.. Secondly,. the various components of the productive structure are. generally. embedded. interacts. with. in. the. a particular institutional context which. market. and. conditions the effects of the. latter on the life chances of the people involved. in. short,. a. process. of. "social. construction. There exists, of the market". (Bagnasco, 1985) which dualist-type models tend to overlook.. Within but. also. family,. the "industrial district", market. the. not only the small firms,. mechanisms and social institutions such as the. kinship network and the local community are closely. interwoven.. Social. structures. provide. cultural and material. resources for the development of entrepreneurship and of flexible productive market,. arising. relations be. structures.. and. lowered. acceptable values. from. also. mitigate the effects of the. discontinuity. of. employment,. on social. enable the costs of the reproduction of labour to. and. incomes. levels.. which. They. cut. to. be. Furthermore, across. social. supplemented and brought up to the. persistence of community. classes,. the. low. degree of. polarization of the class structure and high social mobility play an integrative role that should not be underestimated.. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 9.

(14) These economy. aspects. of. the regulation of the small firm. are already well-known and have been examined by various. studies. that. social. The studies carried out in Veneto and Tuscany also show. they. are of great importance. Nevertheless, the insistence. on the traditional localism-market duality runs the risk of being misleading,. especially. when. it is applied to those areas where. industrialization is more consolidated and where there is a wellestablished played and. by. the. political subculture. interest. activity. consideration.. In these situations, the role. representation through industrial relations of. local. government must also be taken into. On a more general level,. it is also necessary to. bear in mind that,in the small-firm areas, the thrust of economic development brings. and. about. traditional importance. of the cultural opening-up of the local society. a. shift. in the boundaries between the market and. social and political structures. of. the. latter. tends. An increase in the. to occur, principally, at the. expense of traditional localism.. The more. concept of "neo-localism" can be used to illustrate the. complex. interdependence. between the various mechanisms of. regulation. at local level and to draw attention to the role that. is. played. by interest representation.. to. identify. social. particular. structures. structure. and. the. to. division of labour between market, an. increasing. extent,. political. This mechanism made the local economy highly flexible. adaptable. fluctuations. and,. The concept is used here. to in. rapid demand.. market At. the. changes same. in time,. sectors with wide it facilitated a. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 10.

(15) redistribution,. within. the. local. society,. of both the social. costs of and the benefits accruing from economic development. shall. now. We. examine the role played by interest representation in. this context .. Union representation. V. In. firm. looking at the role of interest representation in smallareas,. representation the. origins. a long history which is closely connected to. first. of. all. point. out. that. this. is not possible to examine this history in any. (4),. and. but one should emphasize the fact that, in the. north-eastern. movements. were. onwards.. Their. and. has. It. here. central. must. and development of the local Socialist and Catholic. subcultures. depth. one. stronger. very. active. roots. than. regions,. in. from. the Socialist and Catholic the. end of the 19th century. in the local society are not only deeper other. parts. of. the. country. but. the. traditions themselves have assumed a particular character in that they. have. Neither these. produced. political subcultures. >:. the social influence nor the political representation of subcultures. rather,. territorially-based. to. cut. was confined to specific groups: they tended, across. class. boundaries. and. to assume wider. community dimensions.. It is possible to identify some of the historical conditions that. favoured. this. phenomenon,. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 11. for example: the non-polarized.

(16) class. structure. country. which. autonomous. of. the. central and north-eastern parts of the. was based on agricultural work of a predominantly. variety. (sharecropping,. peasant and tenant farming);. a thick network of small artisan and commercial centres which had enough. resources. themselves;. to. and. a. establish a clear identity and to organize secular. (republican,. tradition. in. the. central. areas. tradition. in. the. north-east.. and The. radical or anarchist). i\ predominantly Catholic interaction. between these. factors,. following the development of capitalism and the creation. of. nation. the. beginning. of. state, the. i.e. between the end of the 19th and the. 20th centuries,. favoured the establishment of. socialism in some areas and of the Catholic movement m. It. a. the. that arose from the consolidation of these movements. particular. different brought. ways, about. process. feature to. by of. organisation.. which. defend. social by. of. of. both. tried,. albeit in. local society from the changes. experimenting. the. union-type rural. and. with. to contain that of localized. forms. of. this process developed through a. relationships,. beginning of the century.. network. the. disintegration. friendly. characterized. specifically. common:. In the red areas,. series. organisations,. in. the market and by the state and tried to halt. proletarianization. complex. VI. is important to emphasize that the differing territorial. subcultures had. others.. societies, lively. involving. unions,. cooperatives. "municipal. labour. and communes,. socialism". of the. In the white areas, organisations of a were savings. less. developed. banks,. but. banks,. there was a agricultural. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 12.

(17) organizations, cooperatives,. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 13. friendly societies and charities,al1. of which were linked, in one way or another, to the local Church.. In both the red and white areas, the defence of the local society involved the. some. national. contractual terms. the. activity. and. the former were often used to improve. of. and. the. A typical example of this is. parliamentary socialists in favour of co. communes.. This. type. of. relationship between. and periphery is related to the fact that both socialists. Catholics. reasons, them. This relationship had both conflictual and. of political bargains.. operatives centre. state. elements. the. and. form of relationship with the "centre", i.e. with. were. excluded,. in. varying ways and for varying. from the central political power.. This exclusion drove. into organizing and strengthening their position at a local. level where conditions were more favourable.. There. are,. of. course,. and. in. the. subcultures established.. As. concerned,. for. widespread areas. far. and. of. socialist. than. the areas under socialist control are the. it. in is. phenomenon Emilia. associations. appears. after. certainly. more. Romagna and in certain. in Umbria and the Marches where. World. that date.. War I and where the social network of. to have remained relatively underdeveloped In the same way, the Catholic subculture. stronger in some areas of east Lombardy,. Brescia,. is. penetration of the countryside seems to have occurred, after. was. as. consolidated. principally,. even. periods in which they emerged and were. example,. Tuscany. differences in the strength of the. and. such as Bergamo and. in the inland areas of Veneto, such as Vicenza and.

(18) Padua. than in other parts of the north-east.. which. représentât ion through. which,. and. the. of. unions was. of. emergence. strongly. had. localist. a. model. connotations. of and. in the face of the weakness of the central state. vertical. and. the. emphasizing. in. however,. Our interest lies,. structures. interest. established.. of. representation - parties,. groups - a decentralized political economy. The. subculture. fostered. the. emergence. of. particular local political systems.. It is impossible to examine the historical evolution of this phenomenon, the. war,. which of. the. involves the establishment, after Fascism and PCI. and. the. DC. in. those. areas which had. originally been under socialist and Catholic influence, here (5). The context in which these territorial subcultures emerged did, however, small. have. firm. aspects. certain consequences for the political economy of. areas.. We. should. to. draw attention to two. in particular: the existence of a reservoir of resources. for the organization of interests; model. like. of. and the influence of this on a. representation which was conditioned, to a significant. extent, by local and political constraints. an. outline. examining. description industrial. of. how. relations. these and. We shall try to give elements. the. combined. activity. of. by. local. government.. Insert Figures 2 and 3 here. 5. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 14.

(19) As. we have already noted, the idea that areas of small-firm. development. are characterised by weakness of trade unions and by \i. poorly we. institutionalized industrial relations is widely held. If. consider. picture In. the. data. appears. 1961,. or. unionization. (Fig.2),. however, the. to be somewhat lesf* simple and straightforward.. when. beginning,. on. the had. process. of. small-firm. growth. was. just. not yet started, the rate of unionization in. industry. (CGIL+CISL). centre.. In. little. lower. was. highest. in. the. red. regions of the. the white regions of the north-east, the rate was a than in the "industrial triangle", where the large. enterprises were fully developed. ' There was a marked increase in unionization In. 1977,. in. the following years, particularly in the 1970s.. the highest rates of industrial (and, indeed, overall). unionization. were. to. be. found in the small-firm regions. This. leading. position. was consolidated in the early 1980s when these. regions. suffered. less. than. the. north-west. from. the fall in. unionization that occurred at the time (6).. V The differences that exist among the various regions suggest The. time. caution at. specialization,. (Fig.3). in. the interpretation of data on unionization.. which. economic development occurred and sectorial. which. influences. the. workforce. (7), must be kept in mind.. difficult. to. explain. V. characteristics. of. the. It would, nevertheless, be. the dynamism of the phenomenon in regions. like Veneto, Emilia or Tuscany without reference to the resources provided. by the local policital subculture,. particularly since a. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 15.

(20) very. fragmented productive structure,. firm. areas,. from. an organisational point of view.. such as is found in small-. hinders the development of unionization, especially It should also be pointed. out that the CGIL (the Communist-Socialist union) predominates in the. red. and. the. CISL. (the Catholic union). in the white areas. (Fig.4),. even though an "area of union monopoly" exists, really,. only. the. in. north-east,. first the. case. CISL. is. (Rossi, 1980).. In the regions of the. stronger. in other parts of the. than. country but the CGIL is also represented to a significant extent.. Insert Figure 4 about here. The. influence of the local context is also confirmed by the. studies carried out in the white area of Veneto (Bassano) and the red area of Tuscany (Valdelsa). of. a. long-established. especially,. the. Catholic. position. (Associazione. Cattolica. consolidation. of the CISL.. workers for. in. those. employees. from. the. facilitated. small. firms. employed. in. In the first case, the existence. of. associational influence. Lavoratori. held. Italiani). network. and,. by. ACLI. the. favoured. the. In 1982, the rate of unionization of. in this area was 48% but it fell to 17% artisan enterprises. with less than 10. In Valdelsa, a gradual shift in union representation agricultural by. organization. in. organization. and. Unionization. of. the the. sector. existence 1950s. strength workers in. as of. to. that. of. small. firms. was. of a very strong share-croppers' well. as. by. the. considerable. the Communist party in the area.. small firms reached a level of 80%,. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 16.

(21) though. the. rate was considerably lov/er in the artisan sector in. this area too.. The. two. highlight. some. significance VJe. case studies are, of course, very typical but they. can. processes. in. the. maintain. institutional organization. seem. to acquire a more general. light of the data previously analysed (8). that. and. that. the. identity. political resources. subculture which. favoured. more. the. of workers in small-firm districts, particularly in. industrial enterprises with more than 50 employees. was. provided. marked. in. This process. areas with a red subculture, especially in. those with a stronger associational traditional.. Up. to. now. underemphasized. we. have. aspect. of. described. an important, though often. interest. representation in areas of. small-firm development. The existence of various levels of worker organization,. though crucial, cannot, however,. in itself provide. an adequate explanation of the nature of that representation. this. data. In"/. regard,' it is necessary to establish the direction taken by. union. activity on early. work. lost. than. in. 1980s,. we see that the severity of strikes (hours of. per striker) was markedly lower in small firm regions a. typical large-firm region like Piedmont.. results. are. varying. factors. strongest. and the consequences of this. If we consider the. conflictuality in the period between the late 1960s and. the. similar. in. Communist. Though the. all small-firm areas, these are due to. in the different regions. subculture,. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 17. The regions with the. Emilia and Tuscany, have a very.

(22) high of. rate. of participation (strikers per strike) but a low rate. severity. Friuli,. while. have. an. the. "white". appreciably. regions,. lower. Trentino, Veneto and. participation. rate. and a. relatively higher level of severity, although the latter is still less. than. that. found in Piedmont.. The Marches and Umbria have. both low participation and low severity rates (9).. Insert Table I about here. Unionization have. a. areas. low. particular, A. the. conflictuality. wouLd seem, therefore, to. though differentiated pattern in small firm. substantial level of unionization is accompanied by a. level. conclude of. and. of conflictuality. that. unionization is to be considered as a consequence. particular. negligible. It would, however, be mistaken to. effect. political on. subculture. and. that. it. has. a. industrial relations in small-firm areas.. This view has often been put forward, particularly to explain the situation in the red areas.. There. is. no. doubt. that. the. local subculture did impose. constraints. on. development.. It is not difficult to find evidence of this in both. the. union activity in the initial stages of economic. red and the white areas (10).. adopted. by. favourable. the to. In the former, the strategies. PCI certainly did encourage policies which were small. firms, while the growth of the CISL in the. white areas,in the initial stage of development, was also largely dependent. on. the. support. of. the. Church,. the. DC. and. the. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 18.

(23) and. this. Nevertheless,. there. reduces. are. the. autonomy. indications. that. of. this. the unions. situation has. changed.. V. The. labour costs of industrial enterprises increased m. 70s. and,. in. the. national. the. almost all the srnall-firm areas they came close to average. and. available. to that of Piedmont. data. (Bagnasco, Pini,. 1981).. The. and studies that have already been. carried. out lead us to hold that this tendency was influenced by •j. a. considerable. example,. amount. of. negotiation. on. a. firm level.. For. a regional study on Veneto in the period 1979-1980 found. that. 42%. of. were. involved. This. percentage was considerably higher for firms with more than. 50 employees. size. in. firm-level. industrial enterprises with more than 20 employees in. negotiations at firm level (Giubilato,. The vast majority of firms above this threshold of. Emilia. and. Tuscany also seem to have been involved in. negotiations. 1983a; 1983b).. 1982).. (Brusco,. 1980; Ires-CGIL Emilia Romagna. In the studies on Bassano and Valdelsa, the rates. found for industrial enterprises were 45% and 60%, respectively.. Agreements with. factors. innovative mobility example, employment way. with. at firm level were concerned, for the most part, like. wages. aspects and the. and. relating. differentials. levels) limited. to are. (ratings).. More. to the processes of restructuring,. decentralization "right. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. entrepreneurs. of. production. information". and. the. (such. as,. for. negotiation of. dealt with hardly at all or in a ritual. practical. implications.. The question of the.

(24) organization of work, which had,. in the past, played an important. role in firm negotiations in large factories, appears not to have been an issvie at all (11).. Caution should, obviously, be exercised in generalizing from these. tendencies. and the differences between the areas in terms. of. wage benefits and differentials should not be underestimated.. In. Valdclsa,. firm. or. for example, we found that the wages negotiated at. area. level. were. higher. Dassano and in the. sector. level. 20%.. Differences also emerged in the average level of. The. degree of local coordination and formalization of. ratings.. negotiations working. is. hours. also and. the. in. furniture by. exceeded. than. higher. overtime. wage determined at the national. in the red areas.. Issues such as. are more frequently the subject of. negotiations than in Bassano (in 33% of the cases compared to 40% in. Bassano).. differences, atmosphere. a. national. fact. negotiations. remains, at. firm. however,. that despite these. level are carried out in an. of lov; conflictuality (in both areas about 70% of the. entrepreneurs relations,. The. declare themselves to be satisfied with industrial. while the opinion of entrepreneurs on this subject on level. is. clearly. negative).. Negotiations at firm V level bring particularly economic benefits to industrial workers,. especially those in firms with more than 50 employees and they do not. impose. rigid constraints on labour mobility and flexibility. which are fairly high in both areas. firm once).. Workers often move from one. to another (about 60% of the workers changed firm more than In addition, substantial proportions of workers - from a. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 20.

(25) third a. to a quarter - said that they worked more than eicjht hours. day. "in. holidays.. busy. periods" and that they worked on Saturdays and. Interruptions of working activity because of a fall in. production are widespread.. In. the. light. explain. the. relationship. conflictuality subcultural little. of. in. terms. charact or. effect. on. interpreted. another. union. (Emilia. and. unionization. hypothesis and. which. weakness. we. have. way. or, a. in. data. the. low. that stresses the sees. it as having. The qualitative data on. already. These. and. do. case. predominantly. referred,. can. be. not necessarily. of the "red" areas political. type. of. which is expressed through high participation and. duration. negotiational quite. the. unionization. Tuscany),. conflictuality short. of. high. industrial relations.. to. indicate. it does not seem possible to. between. of. conflictuality, in. these data,. of. strikes.. and. localist. They model. are of. also consistent with a representation.. This is. different from the conflictual trade unionism of the large. factories. in. the. 1970s. which has dominated the scientific and. political debate on ttie subject.. Further examination necessary provisional. and of. more the. detailed research,. variations. in. as well as a thorough. industrial. relations,. are. before any satisfactory generalizations can be made. A synthesis can lie proposed, however,. in the following. terms on the basis of the data to which wc have already referred: the. existence,. in. many. areas,. of. deeply rooted, territorial. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 21.

(26) political subcultures favoured the growth of unionization but, at the same time, it contributed to directing union activity so that it. neither. weakens. hinders. the. process. of. the local subculture itself.. economic. development nor. These original constraints. have not prevented trade unions from growing in strength and from increasing their own margin of autonomy over time. have. This seems to. been achieved (though with specific differences that should. not. be underestimated) by means of a process of adjustment which. involved. using. members area. available resources to bring advantages to union. either. in. economic terms through single firm or single. negotiations. or. by. means. of. providing. services. (consultation, assistance, patronage etc.). On. the other hand,. characteristics such. as,. group. for. which. organization traditional community) mobility which. at. the. model. working class in small-firm areas (12), the. derives. from. of. work,. low proletarization of this social. from. the its. predominant deep-rooted. institutional and cultural context from. offered. development,. the. example,. and. were. unionism. of. this tendency has been influenced by the. by. the. for. ties. important. in. the. of. the. with. the. (family and local individual-family. diffuse industrialization.. particularly were. opportunities. forms. These factors, first. stage. of. certainly not very favourable to the militant. that prevailed in the large firms and industrial cities time, though it is important to remember that the latter. did,. from. time to time,. influence union activity even in. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 22.

(27) small-firm. areas. and. that it produced new forms of conflict as. well as internal changes within the political subcultures (13).. On. the. whole,. characteristics. however,. structural. constraints. seen. in. negotiations at firm and area level.. more. or. less. are,. the. of the working class directed the unions towards. a negot iat ional and localist type of representation.. compatabi1 ity. and. formalized, of. of course,. local. they,. political. This can be. Though these were. nevertheless,. reflected. and economic systems.. the There. likely to be even substantial differences in the. extent and effects of various negotiations.. In general, however,. union agreements and activity did not impose rigid constraints on the. mobility and flexibility of the workforce.. unions. obtained. high. level. this. regard,. benefits. of. In exchange, the. a prevalently economic type and a. of recognition on the part of the entrepreneurs. it. is. In. necessary to bear in mind that the rate of. membership of business associations is probably higher that it is usually. thought. to be in small-firm areas.. data. are. not. than. two. thirds. supported. available of. but in both Valdelsa and Bassano, more. the. organizations. entrepreneurs, moreover,. Comparable regional. artisan. and. industrial. of their category.. enterprises. The majority of the. said that they were in favour of "stable. relationships with union organizations" and 60% in Veneto and 45% in. Bassano. reported. union in the firm.. that they had "frequent contacts" with the. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 23.

(28) It. is within this general context that the role of internal. dualism in the industrial relations of the individual areas is to be. considered.. varies. This. according. role is always present but its importance. to. the. local economic and political context.. •Workers organizations are less likely to be found in smaller and, particularly, limitations larger. artisan on. firms. union. enterprises. where. activity.. through. there. are. also some legal. These firms are often tied to. the. decentralization of production. which is rarely an issue in union activity or negotiations. dualism. allows. firms. in. the. This. industrial sector to cushion the. costs. of union representation to a certain extent.. hand,. family. On the other. and community ties help to moderate the effects of. discont inuity in employment and of lower pay for workers involved in and. the. sectors not protected by unions.. children. For example, the wives. of unionized workers in industrial firms are often. employed in these sectors.. The factors discussed up to now show that there is a complex inter-relationship, on a local level, between market, traditional social of. structures. local. and interest representation.. government. .activity. should. A consideration. further. understanding of the small firm economy and,indeed, of. the. context.. subcultural. background. add. to. our. the influence. can also be established in this. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 24.

(29) The role of local government. We. have already referred to the role played in the "defence. of. the. local society" by the Socialist and Catholic subcultures. at. the. beginning of the century.. firms,. one. obviously. could in. say. that. With the development of small. this role has been revived, though. different forms and contexts, within the processes. of interest mediation in the individual areas.. In. the. climate. characterized Catholic. the. 1950s,. institutional. defending,. marked the. ideological. activity. networks. reproducing. subcultures. a. of. and. was. of. conflict. the. that. Communist and. directed, principally,. reinforcing. their. at. respective. The Communist party and the Catholic Church assumed. primary role in this phase and they controlled and coordinated. local. institutions. institutions. and,. interventions. in. (14).. The. though the. communes. these. social. field,. did. were. among. undertake. these. concrete. they were also used, to a. significant extent, to consolidate local political identity. This trend. was. exclusion local at. choice the. of. the. red areas in particular.. Given the. of the PCI from the central power, the activity of the. governments controlled by the party was directed,. supporting. demands. in. typical. and. local. political. pressures. towards. of a balanced budget 19G0s,. is. largely,. mobilization and at channelling the. central institutions.. The. in the communes, which was abandoned. significant. from. this point of view.. This. choice certainly arose from the need, to avoid central control and. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 25.

(30) often,. as. far. as. left-wing. discriminât ion,hut. it. of. subculture. the. Communist. administrations. were. concerned,. also reflected a more general orientation which was directed,. above all, at. defending and consolidating the local political identity (15). As far. as the white administrations were concerned, the choice of a. restrictive direct. budgetary. intervention. policy on. arose from a tradition of minimal. the part of the communes,. was. maintained in the following period.. one. can. note. that. the. degree. of. a policy that. In this phase, however,. autonomy of the DC and the. communal administrations from the local Church was very limited.. Things discern. changed. a. shift. in the following period.. towards. a. It is possible to. more concrete and relevant role of. local governments and unions in the mediation of local interests. This. came. about. political activity. level of. development essential rooted. within which. local of. the opened. agencies,. context. of changes on a national. up greater opportunities for the particularly. in. small firms was, nevertheless,. condition. traditional. for. this. social. process.. the 1970s.. The. an endogenous .and. The existence of deep-. structures and identities did, as we. have emphasized, facilitate the transformation of the economy and the. latter,. redefinition. in of. its these. turn,. led. resources.. to. a. smooth,. Thus,. non-traumatic. a specific space was. opened up for local government activity which began to supplement the. role. of. traditional. economic development.. institutions. in. the. regulation. of. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 26.

(31) In. order. to. process. further,. parties. which. enjoyed. a. in. clarify a. the. series. nature and consequences of this. of factors must be considered.. controlled. local. governments,. the. The. DC and PCI,. high level of ideological consensus. The support was,. fact,. an. expression. of. overall. cultural. identity which,. especially in the smaller centres, cut across the class structure and. assumed. freed. the. specific DC. a. the. enjoyed. character.. administrators and. and. community. a. This generalized support. from the necessity of satisfying very. sectorial demands (16). PCI. were. dominant. subcultures.. often. part. Moreover, even though the of coalition councils, they. role because of their strength in the local. This factor may have contributed to increasing the. stability and decision-making capacity of local governments (17).. There parties one. are,. held and. can. exercised power and influence.. hypothesize. orientation note. of course, differences in the ways in which the. than. the. that. In particular,. the DC had a more marked inter-class. PCI.. Nevertheless,. it is interesting to. that, because of their original characteristics, the social. bases extent. of. both subcultures included various classes to a greater. than. in. other. areas.. The. development of small firms. modified this situation over time and the differences between the subcultures about. in. a. governments consensus Another. were,. as. gradual were,. that element. we shall see, accentuated. and. non-traumatic. way. But this came. so that the local. for a long time, able to enjoy a reservoir of. freed which. them. from satisfying particular demands.. increased. the. chances. of. success. of. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 27.

(32) communal to. policies. in regions of small-firm development compared. large-firm. areas.. Diffuse. industrialization, particularly in its initial stage,. limited the. problems. that. or. underdeveloped. local governments had to face.. The fact that the. traditional family and the community background were not changed, that. there was no great inflow of immigrants and that employment. and. consumption. the. communal administrations but these factors. traditional. were sustained not only facilitated the task of also allowed the. institutions and local interest groups to be used in. the regulation of the industrial districts. i. In at. summary,the. maximizing. applying favour. the. pressure agreements. development included. policies adopted by the communes were aimed. of. resources at. (and. these. a regional and central level). among. small. available. included. in order to. the. various interests involved in the. firms.. The activity of local government. both direct policies in support of economic development. and, especially, policies in the social field which were directed at. mediating. the. effects. of. the market as a regulator of the. economy and of employment. The creation of industrial estates for small. firms,. infrastructure the. the and. provision. of. professional. training. and of. support for the format ion of consortia among. firms for the purposes of marketing or export facilities are. i examples. of. increasingly those to. the. first. type. of. policy.. Communes also became. involved in attempts to find solutions to crises in. firms which were particularly important to the economy and. employment. in. the. area. (18).. This often involved putting. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 28.

(33) pressure on regional and national governments to grant redundancy payments. to. the workers and, even, interceding with local banks. on questions of credit.. It also involved mediating between local. unions and entrepreneurs.. The. communes,. field.. They. however, have limited powers in the economic. were. able. to. contribute. to. the. additional advantages for the firms but, basically, a. process. of. determined. greater. Their. impact.. transport, care. economic social The. public. growth policies. provision. housing,. which. of. did,. was. not. creation. of. they fostered politically. however, have a much. services. in the fields of. schools, day-care centres and health. often contributed to improving the living conditions of the. workers These. and, in effect they created a kind of local social wage. policies. traditional far. as. also. supplemented the resources provided by the. institutional fabric, particularly the family,. they. in so. promoted a growth in female employment and general. flexibility in employment.. There local do ten. are,. policies.. have. some. years.. more. tendency. important. differences in the various. Despite the lack of research in this field, we. indications, with particular reference to the last The. red. interventionist. (Ferraresi,. social. however,. Kemeny,. administrations tend, on the whole, to be than 1977;. the white councils of the north-east Visco Comandini, Volpe,. 1982).. This. is particularly noticeable in the areas of land-vise and policy, while the differences are less marked in the area. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 29.

(34) of direct economic in. general,. they. intervention.. Left-wing administrations are,. more inclined to adopt urbanistic measures by which. try to control land-use in the area and to promote forms of. public. or co-operative housing.. their. In the area of social services,. tendency towards a higher degree of interventionism can be. seen. in. their. attempts. available. and. to. operation,. as,. for. and health care.. to. assume example,. increase direct. the. number. of services. responsibility. for. their. in the transport sector, day care. The white administrations,. by contrast, tend to. intervene less and to delegate the provision of services, for the most part, some can. to the Catholic organizations. support be. show. from. found. that. which, however,. receive. public funds. Data that confirm this picture. in various studies on commune expenditure.. expenditure. and,. These. consequently, the levels of budget. deficit and debt, tend to be higher in communes controlled by the left. (19).. Expenditure is lower in communes controlled by the DC. in the white areas though this is not true for DC communes in the south (Brosio, Santagata, would, the. however,. be. mistaken to conclude,. white communes. can,. in. fact,. equilibrium traditional. from these data, that. operate on a purely laissez-faire basis.. be. the. dynamics. of. institutions (Cacciari,. the. market. 1977).. principal aspects to be considered in this respect . urban factory costs,. policies and in. It. shown that they do intervene to maintain the. between local. 1978 ; Aiken, Marinotti, 1980 , 1982 )-. It. have. and. the. There are two Land-use and. aimed at promoting the interpenetration of. residence,. even. though this involves considerable. order to minimize community uprooting and to make use. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 30.

(35) of. the integrative role of the family.. are,. in. general,. support, series. accompanied. of. In. these policies. including financial In this way, a. services with important cultural and material effects albeit indirectly.. conclusion, apart from. political. context,. mediation. of interests.. resources. which,. integration the. support,. for the Catholic network of assistance.. is provided,. in. by. Moreover,. communes. differences which arise from the have. contributed. to the localist. This has occurred by means of political. directly. or. indirectly, have facilitated the. of and agreement hetween the various actors involved. development of small firms.. One should emphasize, here,,. that this model of activity does not imply direct intervention in negotiations. between. associations. but. these actors. between. and. entrepreneurs. and. their. it does promote the chances of agreement among. On the other hand, the development of concertation. local. business. unions. government. and. interest. groups like unions and. associations is discouraged by the restricted powers of. the communes in the economic field and by the limited autonomy of interest. organizations.. representation corporatism" along. arc, (20).. The. characteristics. therefore;, Unions. and. different. of this form of. from those of "local. entrepreneurs operate, rather,. the lines of traditional pressure politics directed at the. parties. with. a. view. to. obtaining. particular advantages.. evaluating. this phenomenon, we must, obviously,. fact. the. that. "local. political. market". In. bear in mind the. is influenced by the. specific sub-cultural context which determines differences in the. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 31.

(36) presence. and. respects,. influence. the. of the various interest groups. In both. organizations. which. are. closest. to. the local. subculture are in a privileged position.. Another interest forego of. characteristic. groups. local. this model of relations between. government. is. political. representation government this. that the former may. the use of vertical organizational structures,for example. the unions or the business associations,. of. in. and. of. demands which. circuit. can. towards is. is,. the. provided in. for the transmission. outside. by. The. horizontal. the dominant party-local. fact, often preferred.. Examples of. be found in the recourse of the unions to the communes. the already mentioned case of crises in the local firms or in. the. attempts. of the entrepreneurs to influence the way in which. benefits, which are decided at a regional level, are distributed. Territorial. representation. is considered,. in these cases,. to be. more effective than the functional representation provided by the various. interest. because. the. the. outcome. organizations. latter. at. regional. or. central level. could entail a greater loss of control over. of the issues involved and can be less satisfactory. from the point of view of local interests (21).. On. the. whole,. representation. plays. an important role in. neo-localist regulation of the small-firm economy. Representation operates. through. business. associations and other interest groups), which interact. among. a. network. of. functional structures (unions,. themselves and with the local government in the individual. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 32.

(37) areas,. and. through. structures. of. territorial. representation. (parties, communes) which promote localist regulation by means of their. interventions. level.. and. their activity at regional and central. The entire process is influenced by the local subculture. which. provides. conditions. the. for the organization of interests but which also forms of interaction among the various actors in. the local political system.. In. the. established, flexibility changes and. of that. which of. the. is. areas, based,. economy. a on. and. social the on. compromise. one its. hand,. is. thus. on the high. capacity to adapt to. in the market and, on the other, on control of the costs. redistribution. appropriate and. small-firm. of. the. benefits. of. development.. It. is. to emphasize the local dimension of this flexibility. adaptation: not only is the individual area the primary unit reference. but. the economic, political and social resources. facilitate adjustment are, predominantly, endogenous.. consideration. allows. us. to. This. have a better understanding of the. problems of modernization that affect small-firms regions.. These. can, in fact, be summarized in terms of the growing inadequacy of local resources to deal with emerging problems.. Problems of modernization and constraints of scale. It. is. a generalization to maintain that neo-localism is an. institutional framework which is becoming too restrictive for the. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 33.

(38) development an. small firms.. abstraction. model,. derived. therefore,. tensions and. of. and. that. times. the. distinct. be. in of. specified the. stages. to. It. In applying the. differing. contexts.. forms and at Moreover,. the. of small firms in terms of discrete and is,. isolate. therefore,. and. some. basic. tendencies.. difficult. and, in part,. distinguish various phases.. this necessary warning,. terms. in. various. with. simplified. cases.. the model itself preclude the possibility of. development. artificial. concrete. it is necessary to emphasize that a variety of. can. characteristics seeing. from. transformations can be found in the concrete cases. these. different. But neo-localism is an ideal-type,. Albeit. it is, however, possible to outline. We shall refer to these in summary and. in our attempt to delineate an overall picture. of current changes.. At. an economic level, the ability to confront international. competition. and,. with. labour. lower. depends. on. particularly, the challenge posed by countries costs. in. technological. traditional innovation,. areas. of production. the. promotion. of. entrepreneurial skills and the availability of a suitably trained workforce. resources. What and. is. required, therefore,. services. is the development of. which are not always to be found, on an. adequate scale, at local level.. The economic literature on small. firms deals extensively with these questions and shows that it is not. easy. functions, marketing. for such and. smaller as export. units. of. professional activities,. production and which. to. internalize. managerial become. training,. increasingly. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 34.

(39) important time,. in. context of these new conditions.. the. process of industrialization involves the consumpt. ion. the. local resources and produces growing costs,. of use,. At the same. energy. that. congest ion,. pollution,wast e. supplie s ,. in terms of land-. disposal. and. traffic. cannot be dealt with adequately at local level. and with local resources .. In. the. economic. context. innovation. raises,. of. the. small-firm. economy,. therefore,. poses a territorial problem of scale.. This. in turn, the question of the relationship between small-. firm areas and the cities as centres of service-provision and, on a. more. general. development. economy. hut. becomes. level,. the. constraints. necessary. and credit. of. scale. also. imply that the. more dependent on the efficient performance of. the local political system. cooperation. issue of the regional dimension of. The need to experiment with forms of. organization facilities. among are. firms,. available. to ensure that the and. to. stimulate. relationships conducive to innovation, among industrial district, town. and. region. makes. the. role. of the political system more. important than it was in the past.. At. t he. identity assess. same. and. time,. institut ions phenomenon. this. a. by. process. of. erosion of traditional. is taking place.. It is difficult to. means of quantitative data but some. indications of its extent can be found in the reduction of family size. and. Some. more. in. increased part icipation in the educational system,. significant. indications. can. be. found. in the case. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 35.

(40) These studies reveal. studies. carried out in Tuscany and Veneto.. a. but significant change in the traditional social fabric,. slow. appears to be fostered by two factors in particular:. This. trend. the. process. of. class. structuration. (22). and. that. of. the. secularization of the political subcultures.. The first involves a tendency, towards a greater "closure" of the social classes which followed the marked individual-family mobility of the early stage of development.. This however has not. been accompanied by the emergence of the type of clear-cut social cleavages. which were characteristic of the classic phase of mass. industrialization. community class. is. a. redefinition. of. the original. identity in a direction more influenced by the diverse. positions.. coexist. There. and. jointly. secularization different. autonomous. and. The. and. influence. proceeds. ways.. development. Community. in. class, local. the. same. however, culture.. continue. to. The process of. direction,. albeit. in. latter process is conditioned by economic. by class structuration but it does have its own. dynamic which is related to the increase in eductaion. and the diffusion of mass media,. that is, to an opening-up of the. local society.. In. the. white areas, there is a growing detachment from the. original. religious matrix, while in the red areas, a substantial. fall. traditional political participation is taking place.The. in. centrality is. of the communist party as a normative reference point. decreasing.. In botli cases,. therefore, we see a loosening of. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 36.

(41) the original relationship between cultural identity and political orientation.. The. secularization political more. process. both. identifiable. class. contribute. allegiances.. politically. of. The. specified. interests. to. structuration and that of the erosion of the original. consensus tends to converge around issues,. i.e. to the satisfaction of. which are defined, for the most part, in. terms of the class position of the people involved.. The. emergence. behaviour. is. a. this. phenomenon. is reflected in voting. It is possible to formulate the hypothesis that there. movement. away from the original interclass orientation of. the subcultures,. particularly in the smaller centres.. occurs,. however,. in. white. the. of. The change. in the context of a fall in support for the DC. areas and of increased support for the PCI in the. red. areas.. This leads to a convergence in the levels of support. for. the. the. white area of Hassano, for example, there is an overall fall. dominant. parties in the various areas.. in. support. for the DC.. a. shift. in. compared. in. with In. quantitative. fall. regions behaviour of. the. over in. small the. generation.. increased. the in. the. general. of. PCI. This is due, to a significant extent,. allegiance. entrepreneurs). In the case of. among. workers. (and. also. to. among. firms and it is particularly marked if. political. allegiances. rod area of Valdelsa, support past. ten. for. the. years,. Nevertheless,. of. the. previous. there has not been a. PCI.. This indeed has. as it has in the central. the survey on the political. the various social groups suggests that the growth was. fostered,. to. a. considerable. extent, by the. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 37.

(42) increase its. in. turn,. there. the was. is. a. number of workers in the electorate, which, due. to. certain. diffuse industrialization.. detachment. from. in. Vice versa,. the original subcultural. matrix among the entrepreneurs, the artisans and the white-collar groups. of. the. public. and. private sectors.. In this case, also. there is a marked difference between the political allegiances of the. interviewees. and the attitudes that they attribute to their. fat tiers (23).. Generally. speaking,. transformation for. the. ttie. thrust. of. economic. social. in the small-firm areas, has created new problems. that these enjoyed in the past is declining.. relations being. and. local political systems while the traditional consensus. conditions. that and. underlay. local. modified.. The. the. previous. That is to say, the role. of. industrial. government. in neo-localist regulation, are. stability. and. negotiational character of. industrial relations are challenged by two different factors.. On. the one hand, market conditions make it difficult for small firms to. deal effectively with problems of innovation and to guarantee. the. levels. achieved. social same. On. aggregated. not. the. and. other. in. the. employment hand,. that. have already been. the erosion of the traditional. its turn, influences worker demands. traditional. consensus,. which. In the. contained. and. demands, contributed to the non-problematic nature of. politics. largely. income. fabric, way,. local. of. as. independent. did. the. fact that economic development was. from direct. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. b. 38. political intervention and did. create serious functional difficulties.. The communes could,.

(43) thus,. confine themselves to providing resources that facilitated. localist regulation of the various interests. of. the. With the reduction. regulatory capacity of the market and of the traditional. institutions, between. the. union. process. and. of. development and the negotiations. entrepreneurs. becomes. more. dependent. on. political intervention but the resources of the local governments are. insufficient. arises,. to. therefore,. regulation. which. deal for. can. with. this new situation.. instruments. The need. of mediation and political. tackle more complex situations that those. encompassed by a neo-localist model.. The limits of regionalization. In the Italian situation, the regional level could provide a solution The have. for. the. no. direct in. powers. training. regions. energy,. It was. possibility. is. true. confused. the. industrial sector but they can. the that. and. labour the. market. land-use policy, and. professional. transfer of functions to the. fragmented. and that this limits the. of regional intervention in the economic field.. instruments. "supply. in. the fields of the artisan sector,. infrastructure,. the. of scale of the small-firm economy.. regions,which were introduced at the beginning of the 1970s,. intervene. the. problems. available. could. also allow the development of. policies" directed at providing services to the firms in. areas of technological and organizational innovation,. mobility. But. and. professional training (24).. labour. Furthermore, regional. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 39.

(44) generally,. for. provides. wide. participation. of. interest groups in the formulation of policies.. The been. opportunités. which. are. available, have not, however,. effectively exploited, at least up to now.. carried. out. From the survey. in two small-firms regions with different political. subcultures, Veneto (Christian Democrat) and Tuscany (Communist), it. emerges that regional intervention in the economic sphere has. been. fragmented and limited.. small. firms. regions. have. been. In particular, supply policies for. impeded. by. the. difficulties that the. have experienced in coordinating intersectorial activity. (25) .. In evaluating this situation, the emphasis is usually placed on the limited powers of the regions and on the institutional and organizational attention of. constraints. their. interventions.. Less. has been paid to the shortcomings of a regional system. representation.. interest. on. Yet, the existence of adequate structures of. representation at regional level seem to be a necessary. condition. for. the. reduction. of. tho se. constraints. and,. particularly, for the promotion of effective forms of negotiation among unions, business associations and regional government.. The. participation of strong and representative interest groups in the formulation consensus. and. implementation. of policies could guarantee the. and the information which are necessary in the case of. intervention. in. a. strongly. differentiated. and. fragmented. © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. legislation,.

(45) productive. structure,. such. as. that. of the small-finn economy. (26) .. Why. is the passage from localist regulation of interests to. representation and concertation on a regional level so difficult? First. of. all,. hindered reduce. by. steps. the. the. in. the. behaviour. institutional. direction of regionalization are. of the parties. which does not help. constraints on regional intervention.. In Veneto, a crucial factor in this regard is the weakness of the DC. as. a. party and. heterogeneous. interests. difficulties the. party. These,. in. investment level.. involved. have. a. local. base.. The. in mediating among various localisms push. distributive. turn,. discourage. unions. to which it can be penetrated, by. which. into. by. and. and fragmented regional policies. any. strategic. business. and organizational. associations at a regional. The PCI in Tuscany has a stronger identity and is better. organized and. the extent. but. tends. sector.. it is wary of delegating power to interest groups. to try to increase direct intervent ions of the.public The. party,. involvement. of. formulation. and. therefore, has not. unions. and. the. organization. favoured the effective. business. associations. in the. of policies in the economic field. (27) .. The. result. infrastructures, that, demands. in. both which. of. this. weakness. of. regional. political. capable of defining and aggregating demands, regions, force. them. the. is. administrators often have to face. into a kind of "pluralist mediation". © The Author(s). European University Institute. Digitised version produced by the EUI Library in 2020. Available Open Access on Cadmus, European University Institute Research Repository.. 41.