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The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitude of Italian consumers towards insect consumption. The use of insects as alternative protein source is claimed to be a solution to the environmental concerns over the production of animal proteins and to food security issues. Studies conducted in other European countries report that consumers are quite resistant to the introduction of insect-based products in their diet, although those who are more concerned about environmental and health show some interest towards insect consumption.

The authors conducted a survey with a 14-item questionnaire on 201 consumers, selected with a systematic sampling within a shopping mall. The factors influencing respondents’ attitude towards insect consumption were studied by means of a logistic regression.

Results show that 31 per cent of respondents were willing to try insects as food, while 5 per cent had already tried. Familiarity with foreign food, higher education and gender (male) positively influenced consumer attitude to entomophagy. Instead, the fear of insects and the idea that the taste might be disgusting were the main barriers to the willingness to try entomophagy, although these issues were mainly raised by consumers who had no direct experience with insects eating.

The paper is a first attempt of exploring the topic of entomophagy in the Italian context. Most of the results were consistent with previous research carried out in other countries. However, some barriers to insect consumption seem to be stronger in Italy than elsewhere.

This chapter explores the case of post-socialist education transformations in Nicaragua. While less commonly known to have been a full participant in the Cold War, Nicaragua's conflict with the United States during the 1980s was underlain by a socialist/capitalist struggle. Education reforms in Nicaragua thus present an important example of a complex interplay between socialism and post-socialism in the context of Latin America. The case of Nicaragua is also significant because of its recent reelection of the same government that was in power during the socialist period, thus reflecting a reemerging mix of capitalist and socialist elements in education. The analysis focuses on important political periods in the last 30 years and responds to the following questions: What are the post-socialist education transformations that have occurred in Nicaragua? And, how have the directions of the reforms been shaped by international, national, and local political and economic factors? Drawing on qualitative policy analysis and interviews with various groups of education stakeholders, the findings highlight three specific dynamics of reforms. These dynamics highlight the complex nature of the reform processes, including the Nicaraguan government's relationship with and the role of international donor organizations, differing notions of “local participation” that signify the shifting role of civil society, and continuities and discontinuities in policy processes.

Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.

The design for production of wall partitions (DPWP) offers high potential for improving the design process of building in Brazil. However, one of the problems worth mentioning is the lack of accurate definition of scope which leads to doubts about what, when and how it should be prepared, developed and delivered by the designers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the application of the Brazilian Association of Design Managers and Coordinators (AGESC) handbook scopes of DPWP in building construction.

A case study involving a field investigation of eight construction organisations and DPWP designers in the cities of Recife and Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The results obtained have shown that conformity (with specification) – the reference scope adopted AGESC handbook DPWP – was not entirely fulfilled by the companies, while the agreement (personal opinion on the appropriateness of the specification) with the scope was even lower among them. The major difference was found between conformity and agreement among the construction companies.

Guidelines concerning how to use the AGESC handbook for DPWP, description of potential uses and amplifying of the contributions to greater integration between expectations and resulting products, call for rational design and execution of non-loadbearing masonry in the Brazilian construction industry.

The tendency to utilize transnational organizations (TNO), with the tacit support of transnational institutions such as the European Union, to realize mega projects affecting local populations and territories distant from decision-making boardrooms, may result in increasing democratic alienation between those who are charged with implementing these projects and local citizens.

This chapter presents Stage 2 of a study to examine democratic participation and communicative action between a transnational organization, governing bodies, and the citizens affected by a high-speed rail project in Susa Valley, Italy. Findings related to potential democratic alienation between citizens and decision-makers are presented. Societal factors which contribute to this alienation, such as a communication deficit, are considered, as well as the strategies adopted to counter this participatory gap – including a reliance on electronic media for disseminating information and the creation of transnational resistance networks.

Results suggest that the emergence of transnational resistance networks such as the Forum Against Unnecessary and Imposed Mega Projects – spearheaded by members of the No TAV social movement, may provide new avenues for democratic participation and citizen engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the motivations of young consumers of alcoholic beverages in order to supply information for the definition of corporate and social marketing strategies. The target of young consumers was chosen because of its association with the choice of consumption behaviours often resulting in health and social issues related to alcohol. The focus on motivations, on the other hand, is justified by the need to assess the contents of appropriate and efficient communication campaigns for both producers and public institutions.

A means-end approach was used on a sample of young consumers from Tuscany via face-to-face interviews. The interviews were carried out with students who were completing their last year of high school. The results were processed using an MEC analyst software for the construction of the hierarchical value maps and cognitive maps showing the links between products and consumers.

The results highlighted the perception of a “socialisation” attribute that is stronger when linked to the consumption of beer and spirits; however, wine is still perceived as a non-friendly beverage. The aspect of socialisation underlines both the pleasure of sharing consumption experiences and the dangerous binge drinking behaviour. Thanks to this approach, the study identifies the main elements in the cognitive structure that, if used to define a communication strategy, may guarantee a high degree of efficacy.

The findings of the study constitute valuable information that can be used to prepare stages of communication plans within larger corporate and social marketing strategies. The wine sector can benefit from understanding the motivations that prevent young people from drinking wine and can attempt to fill the psychological and cognitive gap between young consumers and the product. Public institutions, on the other hand, may benefit from understanding the motivations that lead young people towards dangerous drinking behaviours. In turn, the institutions may be able to send appropriate messages within their communication activities aimed at containing such behaviours.

The chapter analyzes the characteristics of a new political subject, the Five Star Movement, which arose in Italy in 2005 (as local civil lists), was officially constituted in 2009, and became the most voted-for party in the 2013 general election, when the country was hit by a strong surge of populism. This party was founded by the Italian comedian Beppe Grillo and launched via his Internet blog. The chapter will be divided into five parts: a brief introduction about the general context and a description of the Italian political framework and the general crisis of traditional parties, setting the scene from which the discussion will develop. Then, in Section “‘People against the Parties’: The Five Star Movement’s Populist Messages,” I will describe the global characteristics of the Five Star Movement, with an analysis of Grillo’s party communication style, especially its use of social media, its people call (with its enemies), and its mobilization strategies. In Section “Inside the Movement: The Party’s Structural Characteristics,” I will describe the party’s internal organization, in order to underline some controversial elements. In the conclusion I will hazard some hypotheses about the party’s destiny, compared to other populist examples.

This essay is based on material gathered by me while in East Africa. It would probably have been more valuable if I could have written in detail and critically on one or more of the subjects instead of covering so much ground. I am not really competent to do this; instead I am presenting what is really a list of sources for those who wish to explore further.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the effect that knowing the Catalan language has on individuals’ comparative advantage to perform certain jobs in Catalonia (Spain), where Catalan and Spanish coexist.

Using census data for 1991 and 1996, and for individuals born in Spain, the paper first estimates a Probit model for individuals’ level of Catalan proficiency in order to correct for the possible endogeneity of Catalan knowledge, as it may be jointly determined with occupational selection or be a reflection of unobserved human capital or innate ability. Then, it estimates a bivariate Probit model for the probability of choosing a given occupation conditional on a given Catalan proficiency level.

The paper finds that advanced proficiency in Catalan reinforces selection into being employed, being an entrepreneur, and into white‐collar occupations and communication‐intensive jobs. Being able to read and speak Catalan increases selection into white collar occupations by between 11 and 16 percentage points, while writing Catalan increases by 4 to 7 percentage points the probability of engaging in services, and government and educational activities.

Because census data are cross‐sectional panel effects on language selection cannot be analyzed. Nevertheless, the paper's results suggest that investing in learning the local language, at the firm and the government level, improves job matching and assimilation of workers to multilingual economies. The authors suggest a cost‐benefit analysis to assess the effectiveness of language policies for further research.

The results contribute to the scarce literature on the economic value of a language, i.e. on how much language knowledge as a form of human capital reinforces individuals’ comparative advantage to perform certain tasks.

This chapter offers insight into Italian sociology of sport. It first describes the fragmented history from the 1990s to the present of a discipline that has never developed as a truly mature field in the academic environment, and then outlines some main areas of research strengths and outcomes. Four strands can be highlighted: fandom and organized soccer supporters (Ultras); changes in sport through the forces of television, new media, sponsorship, and globalization; hybridization of sport, mass media, and politics with Berlusconi’s entrance into the Italian political scene and the advent of the era of “football politics”; and lastly, the body, bodywork, formal/informal sport activities, and gym culture with a microsociological perspective. However, despite their sociological relevance, these topics have had no regular, substantial development. They constitute separate fields of knowledge appearing in the sociological landscape in conjunction with social alarms, mainly related to soccer violence, or the emergence of new mass sport events or trends. It is difficult to predict what the future will hold. There is currently emerging attention to new urban sports and some sporadic in-depth ethnographic investigations of sport in micro arenas, such as soccer pitches, fitness gyms, and dance schools. Otherwise, Italian sociology of sport is folded into physical education science and is only considered as a field of inquiry for physical health and wellbeing.