Companies are based on an organizational structure, it is no coincidence that when talking about the State all the public law manuals distinguish the state entity in at least three types of configurations: State institution or system, State apparatus and State communityThis configuration was a social and political achievement, which over time seems to have become a given, but it isn't. Hence, a broad reflection from the perspective of the sociology of power seemed useful. Added to this was the use of the term "social liberation" as an element of self-determination.
The term was used in the article as a container, not as a symbol—certainly partial and limited to certain cases—with a multidisciplinary approach.
The birth of state entities as social liberation
In itself, the transition to Montesquieu's tripartite division of powers, designed to ensure a modern organizational system, gave rise to Rousseau's beloved idea of the social contract. With it, citizens sign a social pact for civil coexistence and exercise power either directly or indirectly through representatives. Representatives who do not respect the will of the people can be immediately replaced.
Today, this "social" pact no longer appears to be the prerogative of those who govern, and we are witnessing a complex and transversal moral drift that is breaking the social pact, privileging selfish individual interest over collective individual interest. Organizational evolution has seen the transition from the feudal system (vassal-lord relationship) to a gradually more egalitarian approach, leading to the emergence of what we identify as the modern state and subsequently as the rule of law. This revolution, which we consider macro, finds its form and meaning in M. Weber's definition of power, according to which power is not justified by force but by legitimacy (this is the so-called legal-rational power).
The concept of international community
The conquest that marks the transition of the individual from subject to citizen has a multilayered historical context. It was not a painless transition, but the result of both individual and class struggles. History is rich in examples, as it affects every aspect of society, from individual rights to personal freedoms, from the ability to organize into interest groups or the choice to join or not join them. This is a configuration of a way of conceiving the State as secular and guarantor , as well as based on law. If political power is that power that allows those who hold it to impose their will through the use of legitimate force, social power represents its superstructure.
If one wishes, the very birth of states (which historically coincides with the year 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia), which occurred with the affirmation of that particular embryonic idea identified as the "international community," represents a form of consolidation of state social structures. The term, in reality, is strongly sociological and political rather than juridical , and refers to the right of self-determination of peoples and individuals, which today more than ever appears obscured by the blindness of a political class devoid of values and ideals and subservient to succumbing to supranational lobbies.
Sociology of Power: The Acquisition of Social Awareness
As a natural consequence of macro-organizational and structural variables, a cascade of social achievements has arisen precisely from social struggles that have in turn led to social liberations. Indeed, these are processes that are still in constant flux, both evolutionary and involutional, according to the classic rule of fluctuations. Indeed, the same right appears taken for granted or restricted depending on the historical period in which it occurs and even the territory.
The determinants of the process are constituted by the predominant values/interests which are not always spontaneous but very often induced by interest groups of a political, religious, economic/financial nature or, unfortunately, for socially regressive purposes.
Sociology of power and degenerations
Collective social awareness almost always resurfaces following dramatic events, wars, pandemics, or even single traumatic episodes that shake public opinion with a massive and disruptive impact on society. Consider the injustice suffered by a political dissident who was killed, or the systematic persecution of individuals who have disclosed to the public atrocious and compromising facts regarding a state's political/military actions, even during peacekeeping operations.
These are all cases of degeneration of power that result in tragedies. Society reacts to them either with awareness and a reawakening of consciences or with apathy and entrenched disinterest. But let's try to make a brief and non-exhaustive examination of some concrete phenomena, focusing on work and culture.
Protected work as social liberation
Without attempting to provide a historical reconstruction of the issue, which is nonetheless referred to, we will instead focus specifically on the current trend toward deregulation of social protections in the workplace and on some of the social achievements associated with it that are currently experiencing a sharp decline. Consider, for example, the recent issue of the legal minimum wage.
In response to a request to establish the right to a decent wage, there has been a political outcry from the executive branch and the entire associated apparatus (see the National Council of Labour ( CNEL )). The proposed law actually sought to protect a very large group of precarious workers, who currently see a legitimate need—that of at least a minimum wage—as undermined.
The minimum wage
The refusal and the reasons given are striking, according to which collective bargaining is responsible for determining wage levels, but they deliberately fail to disclose that the requirement for fair wages is already enshrined in the Constitution, specifically in Article 36 of the Constitution (sufficient and proportionate). This is a provision with a strong social impact, yet it has not yet received adequate recognition for precarious workers (young and older workers who are being pushed out of the productive sector).
Yet, recognizing a minimum wage would have an impact on the entire socioeconomic system , obviously positively impacting consumption and savings. This contraction is also evident in supplementary economic protections (short periods of social coverage, little attention to real and effective retraining of workers, increasingly distant retirement age, periodic attacks on real protections (Article 18 of Law 300/1970) and in the entire regulatory architecture of the Workers' Statute, a law that, we recall, finally enshrines trade union freedom in the workplace.
Sociology of Power and Work
How can we fail to mention the sad phenomenon of accidental deaths at work , which stems precisely from a neoliberal vision of procurement, which, with its cascades of repeated subcontracts, not only creates a lack of safety but also deprives the primary contracting authority of responsibility. Paradoxically, however, there is a trend toward the consolidation of monetary institutions to the advantage of elite sectors (particularly in the political arena, with a progressive deterioration of institutional coherence, and which, for example, sees the recognition and re-attribution of pensions even to those who, during their terms, have placed themselves outside of constitutional legality).
Even the social functioning of the so-called flex-security , which would hope for a quick re-entry into the labor market, finds no outlet and does not function in Italy, due to an asphyxiated economy (it is difficult for someone over 50 to re-enter the workforce, and even more so for young people), devoid of a real productive fabric (the entire production chain is relocated to countries with low labor costs) with the consequence that in practice nothing or almost nothing is produced in Italy leading to the loss of know-how.
Culture as Liberation? A Reflection on the Sociology of Power
Societies also evolve through culture (intended not only as a wealth of knowledge and technical expertise) as a social variable. In ancient times, those who possessed even a few basic skills (for example, knowledge of writing) were placed in higher positions than the general population.
The example of the Egyptian scribes is striking in demonstrating how even a small amount of knowledge could cast a different perspective on certain individuals, to the detriment of the masses. The historical path to widespread and generalized culture was neither simple nor painless, and for many states it still remains utopian. In fact, it would take centuries to achieve an open and social conception of culture ; in fact, at one time, only members of the noble and aristocratic classes could access knowledge.
Sociology of Power: The Ignorant People
This obviously has a socio-political motivation, since the more ignorant the people are, the greater the possibility for the powers that be to manage political choices as they please.
There was and is a precise plan to anesthetize society. This effect is produced precisely by preventing access to schooling through barriers that are either structural (excessive costs for out-of-town students, for example), organizational (teacher shortages or dilapidated facilities), or by using indirect distracting means and tools (the use of certain social media with devastating effects on young people is now a fact) aimed at disorienting and distancing one's critical awareness , channeling it onto a terrain of banality precisely through social media.
Sociology of Power: A Commentary on Current Events
Not to mention recent school reforms, with the proposal for high schools with a somewhat propagandistic title (made in Italy). Thus, culture, in some ways, represents a taboo; hindering it helps those in power achieve their goals, which are obviously not based on collective interests. The higher the level of culture, knowledge, critical awareness, and self-awareness of a population, the greater the difficulty for those in power to control it. What's more, today we are witnessing a plan for social dismantling that undermines the very foundations of those constitutional rights that have cost such a high price in terms of human lives and social struggles.
It is perhaps the paradox of democracies: when they reach maturity they produce an anomalous effect, perhaps a banality: it is taken for granted that one can obtain medical care freely, that one can access diagnostic tests easily, that one can attend university at affordable costs, that one can demonstrate and dissent, that one can vote and choose with all the necessary information, that one can commemorate an anniversary of freedom.
Sociology of power… of voting?
This process of numbing means that even the exercise of the right to vote takes on a tepid importance in the community. It simply happens that, whether due to detachment from politics or personal disinterest, this right is no longer exercised (abstentionism), with the results and effects that are easily observed today. These examples of rights, and many others, no longer appear to be taken for granted, but are under attack, perhaps with the undisguised intent of transforming a secular, pluralistic society, based at least in principle on the welfare state, into an autarchic one.
It is in fact the effect widely theorized by Tocqueville about two centuries ago ( “Under absolute regimes, the despot, to reach the soul, roughly struck the body, and it happened that the soul, escaping the blows, rose gloriously above it; but in democracies tyranny does not proceed in this way, it does not care about the body, it goes straight to the soul” ).
Francesco Caliò
References
- S. Cassese, The Separation of Powers, Giuffré, 2023.
- R. Bin, G. Petruzzella, Public Law, Giappichelli, 2023.
- M. Weber, Sociology of Power, Pgreco, 2014.
- B. Conforti, International Law, ESI, 2021.
- E. Ghera, Labor Law, Giappichelli, 2023.
- G. Giugni, Trade Union Law, Cacucci, 2014.
- GP Cella, The Union, Laterza, 2004.
- E. Reyneri, Introduction to the Sociology of the Labor Market, Il mulino, 2017.
- AD Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Utet, 2017.
