The present thesis analyses the role of household in producing and reproducing inequality in contemporary societies. While individual and macro level factors influencing economic inequality have been widely investigated, meso level factors have received much less attention so far. This thesis, thus, investigates how the employment behaviour of individuals and their sorting into households, and their dynamics in time and space contribute to deepen inequality. Firstly, it contributes to the still open debate on the consequences of changes in households for economic inequality focusing on four European countries and the United States over two decades. Increases in single-headed households, in female labour market participation, and in the employment and earnings similarity of partners are changes of primary interests for economic inequality. In addition, the thesis investigates how market, state, and family produce and redistribute economic resources and shape the distribution of income and its stratification across household types. Secondly, the thesis moves then towards a dynamic perspective and merges three different lines of research: the life course research, stratification research, and comparative research. It does so studying how life course events affect income trajectories of different social groups in different countries/contexts. Specifically, this thesis investigates the consequences of job loss across different social strata. The idea is that social risks may strengthen or weaken social stratification if risks, and their consequences, are unevenly distributed across social groups. Finally, these aspects are investigated for two countries, Germany and the United States, characterized by relevant variations in those institutions – the market, family and welfare state – which have the capacity to affect the risk of experiencing job loss, and to buffer its economic consequences.

The research lies at the intersection of two large social research areas—highly skilled migration and return migration—and aims to provide a contribution to the studies of sending countries by focusing on post-return experiences of highly skilled professionals in the Belarusian context. Thus, I explore public attitudes toward migration issues in Belarus; investigate the dynamics of return migration among highly skilled migrants; analyse the complexities of highly skilled people’s lifestyles; and study in which ways they apply socio-cultural remittances to different spheres of their lives. Among the main results of this research are the following. This study has conceptualised return in relation to the transnational involvement of returnees, by introducing the concepts of ‘locally oriented’- and ‘transnationally oriented style of life’. These ideal types of post-return lifestyle differ in degree of mobility, attitudes toward home, consumption practices, and type of employment. International experience of living abroad seems to have had a substantial effect on individual styles of life in terms of transnational orientation. However, it appears to be quite heterogeneous and has evident gender differences in its manifestations. Moreover, I argue that formation and transmission of socio-cultural remittances are strongly heterogeneous and selective processes, which manifest themselves to varying degrees not only in different people, but also in different aspects of people’s lives. The analysis of several socio-cultural remittances in private and public spheres showed that under certain conditions, the formation of ‘reactive’ socio-cultural remittances occurred. What is more, in some cases the socio-cultural remittances appeared to have strong gender differences. The results draw on qualitative content analysis of three online discussions (almost 19 thousand posts) and 43 in-depth interviews with highly skilled Belarusian returnees.

The present dissertation examines whether the heterogeneity of co-residence experiences and the nest-leaving process have consequences for later parent-adult child relationships in Italy and Sweden. Three aspects of intergenerational linkages are analyzed: residential proximity, the frequency of parent-child contact, and the downward flow of economic resources from parents to their adult children. By devoting particular attention to these three dimensions of intergenerational solidarity, the first chapter presents an overview of the literature on parent-adult child relationships and describes long-standing cultural differences between Italy and Sweden. In the second chapter, I ask whether in Italy the time spent in the parental home promotes the frequency of contacts between generations, and whether violating social norms regarding the socially accepted time for leaving home is related to less frequent interactions with parents in later life. The findings show that the longer the time adult children spent in their parents’ home, the higher the propensity to reside near, and maintain frequent interaction with parents in later life is. In addition, spending longer time in the parental home appears to provide much less benefit for Italian daughters than for sons. Age norms appear to prescribe the socially accepted ‘age deadline’ for fulfilling expectations for normal adult development. Considering the reasons for leaving home, marriage continues to be the normative occasion to leave the parental family, particularly among adult daughters, who are subject to greater cultural expectations about family ties. The third chapter devotes particular attention to union dissolution and family conflict during childhood and adolescence as possible mechanisms behind the relationship between nest-leaving processes and later parent-child relationships. The findings reveal that the duration of co-residence is likely to foster family interactions also in Sweden, and this positive relationship is only marginally explained by childhood family experiences. However, late home leavers tend to maintain frequent contacts with parents in part owing to having moved shorter geographical distances, and this is more evident for adult daughters than for sons. In addition, adult daughters who stay at home for longer have more opportunities to form binding relationships with mothers than with fathers. The fourth study aims to extend the findings of the previous two chapters, by analyzing intergenerational financial transfers and using a within-family approach (or a sibling design). The findings show that in Italy and other southern European countries late home leavers are more likely to receive economic support from their parents, compared to their siblings who move out of the family nest at an earlier age. But this effect is completely mediated by the time since leaving the parental home, indicating that parents tend to facilitate the transition to independence of their young adult children. The last chapter discusses the findings in the light of previous research. The results of the present dissertation supports the idea that family members’ life courses are deeply interconnected, and that previous family history has important long-term consequences for later intergenerational relationships. I provide new insights into how co-residence experiences and events in early adulthood shape later family relations throughout the life course.

The dissertation investigates couples’ gender inequality in paid and unpaid work as well as in earnings, especially as this inequality relates to parenthood with a cross-national focus. The different behavior of partnered women and men in the three areas is investigated in different institutional circumstances, focusing on if and how individual and household characteristics are related to within-household gender inequality; then, the extent to which the presence of children is associated with less gender equality in women and men's participation in the work force, division of domestic chores, and relative earnings capacity is investigated; further, I consider how individuals embedded in different contextual and institutional circumstances - in particular referring to welfare regimes, but not only – behave differently in the three areas and whether the contextual traits have a mediating effect on the relation between individual characteristics and women and men's behavior in paid work, unpaid work and relative earning capacity in the presence of children or in the event of a childbirth. The thesis is made up by six chapters; the first is devoted to a discussion of welfare and gender regimes that are referred to extensively in the literature review and in the empirical chapters. Then I review the main findings in the literature regarding gender differences in paid work, domestic chores and earnings, and their relation with parenthood. From these I draw my hypotheses. In chapter two, I introduce the data and the methods, although a discussion of these is also included in each empirical chapter. Chapters three to five report the analyses and the findings: in chapter three I analyze the relation between paid work and parenthood in four European countries; in chapter four, multi-level models are applied to 23 European states to investigate to what extent the presence of children is associated with the division of domestic chores within couples, and whether the association varies by country; in chapter five, I use multi-level models first and fixed effects panel models afterwards using data from 26 European countries to test, firstly, the association between parenthood and relative earnings of couples, and secondly the effect of child birth on the earnings' balance of couples. Finally, in chapter six I draw some concluding remarks on my findings. Arguing that gender inequality is rooted in households, the dissertation contributes greater understanding of couple’s intimate household inequality as opposed to merely societal level male-female differences. Focusing on the role of children in promoting gender specialization, the dissertation points to the distinctive circumstances of mothers and fathers, as opposed to women and men (or married women and men) more generally. It elaborates on the role of particular correlates of inequality outcomes, such as education of partners. It works to identify cross-national similarities and differences in the levels of gender inequality as well as in the effects of individual-level predictors.

This dissertation focuses on the experience of childlessness, which is an increasing one across European Countries. Namely, it deals with the socio-economic drivers and consequences that distinguish the life of childless individuals from that of parents. Mirroring each phase of a hypothetical individual lifecycle, it starts by analysing how intentions to be childless are later realised their realizations (Chapter 2). It then goes on to investigate the individual and contextual determinants of childlessness and how they have changed over time (Chapter 3 and Chapter 4). Last it considers the consequences that childlessness might induce in adulthood and later life (Chapter 5). This is done by combining demographic and sociological perspectives in a joint interpretative framework. Overall the thesis shows that both economic contraints and individual values has a role in determining the choice of a childless life, and highlights how these decisions are taken in contexts where a purality of macro factors interacts in moderating the indivdidual risk of being childless. Understanding the drives to childlessness is relevant also when interpreting the potential effects that being childless has on the life of individuals. All in all, the study shows that the consequences of being childless also depend on how people came to be without children.

The foundations of this work of research derived by the demonstration that the health is conditioning of a multiplicity by factors, the control of which is not exercised by the only health care system. Health inequalities, representing one of the most unjust and severe inequitable forms because health is one of the pre-conditions in order to live out fully individual life. Health inequality constitutes one of the worst scandals of our time, especially in developed and democratic countries. The theme of health inequalities is a subject beloved to the sociology, because their analysis allows, either to observe the social dynamics, either to understand as the social differences are distributed between the individuals within the society, especially with the current global economic crisis. The main objective of this study is, using comparative analysis, identify and distinguish the inequalities in health in the relationship between social conditions, risk factors, territorial context and state of health of the population, in two European countries (France and Italy), in order to understand their dynamics and as the territorial context affects the inequalities of health of individuals. Through a transnational approach this research project identifies differences and similarities between the two case studies. The results from our analysis, demonstrate the existence of "unexpected" similarities between groups of French and Italian people, despite different characteristics of social welfare and health systems.

Darknet markets have emerged due to technological advancements, decreasing the likelihood of violence by facilitating remote purchasing interactions. However, the absence of traditional legal frameworks makes maintaining order in these illegal online markets challenging. Without a legitimate state to enforce property rights or quality standards, sustaining order becomes increasingly complex. Despite its illicit nature and the absence of a legitimate state to protect market transactions, the darknet market has proven to be a resilient environment where user satisfaction rivals that of traditional e-commerce platforms such as eBay. How is this possible? Howcan social order emerge in such a context? Existing studies have primarily approached the issue from neo-institutionalist and social network perspectives, examining the emergence of social order through informal institutions and repeated interactions. A notable gap remains in understanding the cognitive aspects shaping decision-making processes in these illicit markets. This dissertation aims to fill this gap by examining the role of social influence in establishing the social order of the market in the absence of legal safeguards from a socio-cognitive lean.

La ricerca prende avvio dalla constatazione, in concomitanza della crisi, dell'emersione in Europa e in altri paesi occidentali, di un nuovo campo di riflessioni teoriche e di sperimentazioni pratiche che con grande vivacità si impone rapidamente da periferia a mainstream anche grazie al supporto politico-istituzionale. Esso domanda un nuovo tipo di innovazione in grado di riconnettere sfera economica e sfera sociale. E' la Social Innovation. All'interno di questo quadro di grande fermento, lo studio intercetta e analizza 48 forme organizzative selezionate nei settori dell'economia, della società civile, delle policies istituzionali che stanno già sperimentando questo riavvicinamento tra economico e sociale per comprenderne le logiche e le dinamiche. A tal fine si fa ricorso al concetto di generatività sociale. La categoria eriksoniana di generatività, qui applicata alle sfere sociale e organizzativa, viene interpretata quale azione innovativa di una nuova articolazione della vita sociale e dei processi di produzione del valore. Emerge un peculiare profilo organizzativo - l'organizzazione generativa - produttrice di shared value, di cui lo studio tratteggia strategie, valori e visioni, aprendo nuove prospettive teoriche, di ricerca e di intervento. / This research moves from the acknowledgment that, along with the 2008 crisis, Europe and other western countries saw the emergence of a new field for theoretical reflections and empirical experimentations, which is rapidly moving from the periphery to the mainstream also thanks to institutional political support. This field requires a new conceptualization of “innovation” as able to reconnect economic and social sphere: i.e. as “Social Innovation”. Within this broad framework, the present study analyses 48 organizational forms selected from the fields of business, civil society and policies, which are already experimenting this rapprochement among the economic and social spheres. The objective of the present dissertation is to understand the logics and dynamics of these phenomena; to this end, the concept of “Social Generativity” is employed. The Eriksonian category of “generativity” is here applied to the social and organizational spheres, and is interpreted as an innovative action towards a new re-articulation of social life and of the processes of value production. The study delineates a specific organizational profile - that of the “generative organization” producing shared value - and illustrates its strategies, values and visions, thus opening new direction for theory, research, and action.

L'approfondimento teorico ed empirico del concetto di integrazione è stato condotto con particolare attenzione alle nuove generazioni. La declinazione teorica del concetto (cap. 1) è stata realizzata attraverso un esame delle prospettive epistemologiche che ne stanno alla base (universalismo, differenzialismo e interculturalismo) e le prospettive del capitale sociale (cap. 2) e della distanza sociale (cap. 3). Della letteratura nazionale e internazionale della letteratura (cap. 4) che riguarda il processo di integrazione delle seconde generazioni, in particolare la teoria dell'assimilazione segmentata di Portes e i molti contributi che vi si riferiscono, emerge che i percorsi di integrazione possono essere molto diversificati, dipendendo sia da fattori individuali e, soprattutto, da fattori di contesto. Il questionario impiegato per l'indagine empirica (seconda parte), svolta nell'a.s. 2005/06 su un campione di 17.225 preadolescenti (11-14 anni) che frequentano le scuole lombarde secondarie di primo grado con il più alto numero di alunni con cittadinanza non italiana, è stato preso e riadattato da quello di impiegato da Portes nella prima indagine CILS. La lettura dei dati, volta a un confronto costante tra italiani, stranieri e figli di coppia mista, è stata condotta attraverso l'analisi delle distribuzioni di frequenza e la costruzione di alcuni indici, tra cui un indice di propensione all'integrazione e di capitale sociale. Dai risultati emerge un forte divario nella riuscita scolastica tra italiani e stranieri e i figli di coppia mista i quali si avvicinano maggiormente agli stranieri in Italia da più tempo. Le differenze di genere esercitano un peso a volte superiore di quello delle differenze di appartenenza. La variabile tempo esercita un'influenza non lineare rispetto a molte dimensioni. I latinoamericani sono il gruppo che presenta le maggiori difficoltà linguistiche e scolastiche, gli asiatici sono i più isolati dal punto di vista sociale. La scuola si conferma come luogo di produzione di capitale sociale e l'integrazione avviene ma in maniera frammentata. / Integration has been studied in theory and empirically paying attention to new generations. It has been first interpreted through epistemological perspectives of universalism, differentialism and interculturalism and through social capital and social distance. From international literature on second generation, in particular from Portes segmented assimilation theory and the many contributions that refer to it, it's clear that integration paths are widely differentiated. This differentiation is due to individual and, most of all, to context factors. The questionnaire used in the empiric research made in 2005/06 on a sample of 17.225 preadolescent (11-14 years old) attending first grade of secondary school in Lombardy with the most high percentage of non-Italian students, it has been adopted and readapted by Portes's first CILS survey. Data interpretation it has been led on a constant confrontation between Italian, non-Italian and mixed couples sons and daughters trough frequencies distributions and indexes. Results show a big device between Italian and non-Italian school performances. Mixed couples sons and daughters are more similar to non-Italian long resident than Italian to which they formally belong. In some cases, gender affects results more significantly than national partnership. Time plays an important role but with a non linear influence on school and linguistic performances. South Americans group is the one with the most high difficulties on Italian language and at school. Asiatic group is the most isolated from peers. School is confirmed as a social capital producing agency and integration is positively related to socioeconomic high levels and it appears discontinue.

Il lavoro si apre con un’approfondita ricognizione delle principali scuole di pensiero attinenti alla sociologia ambientale, analisi che conduce alla scelta del paradigma della modernizzazione ecologica come modello di riferimento preferenziale. Lo studio empirico prende in esame tre siti di produzione elettrica italiani, riguardo ai quali sono stati ricostruiti anzitutto gli elementi istituzionali di scenario. Questa ricostruzione, che nel caso italiano sottopone a critica alcuni aspetti della stessa teoria della modernizzazione ecologica, mette in relazione un consistente dibattito nazionale con l’agire concreto – anche se meno conosciuto – di soggetti internazionali di grande rilievo. Un secondo obiettivo della tesi consiste in una critica dei recenti processi di liberalizzazione della produzione e distribuzione dell’energia in Italia: un tema che sta ai confini della sociologia economica, dando per assodato che anche l’agire economico è per sua natura agire sociale. Un’ulteriore finalità dello studio si ravvisa nell’analisi dei processi di comunicazione ambientale messi in atto dalle organizzazioni produttive dell’energia nei confronti delle pubbliche opinioni, in una fase di potenziale ridistribuzione del mercato tra i diversi competitori. Sono evidenti in questo caso gli aspetti attinenti alla sociologia della cultura e della comunicazione. Gli strumenti utilizzati per condurre l’indagine sono essenzialmente riconducibili a due categorie: a) l’analisi documentale della letteratura teorica, delle fonti statistiche, dei documenti ufficiali degli enti pubblici e degli elaborati delle organizzazione produttive dell’energia: b) una serie di interviste in profondità condotte con testimoni privilegiati (utilizzando griglie semistrutturate). / This work begins with an outline of the main theoretical trends in Environmental Sociology and, in particular, the Ecological Modernization Theory. The empirical research studies three Italian electric power plants and, concerning this issue, it analyses some of the most meaningful aspects of international scenario. This analysis expresses critics on some elements of the Ecological Modernization Theory, and it will be of use in debating the energetic sector development and the connection between the national policy debate and the international organisms’ concrete action. The second objective of this thesis is to provide an assessment of the impact of the market liberalization on the social process of production of electricity. Another purpose of the study is to examine the role of power plants in the communication of environmental issues and ideas, in this historical period of market fragmentation, which is often followed by the increase in the number of competitors. The instruments used in this research are: Secondary Analysis of energy market data; content analysis of official documents created by governments and main energy companies. Some interview in-person made with managers and employers working for electric companies.