Family, a potential of richness abandoned to itself. "The amoral familism"

23% of Italian families with children are at risk of poverty, as opposed to France (15%), Germany (12%) and Sweden (10%).
Also, the percentage of families that are deprived of essential housewares in homes made up of two adults and one child is at 6.5% in Italy, compared to 3.4% in France, 0.3% in Germany, and 0.6% in Sweden (Source:  Eurostate Data for 2010).
 
Talking about the richness of Italian families during an economic crisis at first seems unreasonable; however, the word “crisis,” in Greek, means “choice,” or “decision", while in Chinese, “crisis” means “danger” but also “opportunity.”  Eugenia Scabini, a professor of Social Psychology at the Catholic University of Milan, asks: "What generates richness? What kind of richness do we want for our society and to what richness do we refer to when we speak? Only the economic?” 
 
The Catholic University in Milan has guested a conference called “The Richness of Families in Difficult Times,” a round table to which professors of Economy and Psychology, political authorities and family associations had been invited.
 
In difficult times, richness is a resource.  By rich, we are not talking about consumer goods, but rather the “goods” generated by human relationships.  According to Scabini, these “goods” include:  trust, trustworthiness, diligence, resilience, and the ability to stay positive.  Talk about long-term investments!
 
Professors agree that it is misleading to think that the “goods” or “richness” which comes from human relationships have no influence on individual families – and through families, society.  It is the essence of well-being for the country.
 
Who, in Italy, has been investing in these goods?  Who is capable of teaching them to future generations?
 
Professor Scabini underlines that “right now we are at a turning point as a country, we have to decide if we just want to fix the problems, or if we want to invest in family.  These goods are produced by families, families who need support, and not from families that remain separate".  Separated from whom?  From the government or the state?  Partially, but that’s not all.
 
Luigi Campiglio, a professor of Economics and Politics at the Catholic University in Milan, considers the term “crisis” from the Greek and Chinese perspectives.  A crisis is dangerous at first, but then it becomes an opportunity and ends up being a choice.  In his speech, he has analyzed the so called “Lost Decade.”  With data from Banca d’Italia, he has examined the GDP from a per-person perspective between 2000 and 2010.  In this decade, the quality of life for the individual has decreased.  Spending has decreased by 4% while 82% of real productivity is more a consequence of price increases than anything else.  What’s more is that middle class family income has decreased during the economic crisis over the course of this decade.  Rich families have also seen decreased income during the crisis, but they have had a general increase overall.
 
If we analyze consumer data released by ISTAT, we see that the only consuming has only increased among single people over 35.  We could go on infinitely about the depressing statistics in Italy. So what is left to ask ourselves why should our society support and promote family?  What’s so special about it?
 
Campiglio is convinced that the human aspect is strongly intertwined with the economy.  For Campiglio, family is essential and fundamental for sustainable development. It contributes to the creation of Italian heritage, it generates human richness which consequently richness for the entire country, and will reduce the social imbalance by making things more efficient.
 
Can the public do something to help family?  Is political action necessary?  These are the questions that Professor Campiglio has been pondering.  Campiglio also underlines that the government should not confuse politics pertaining to the poor with those pertaining to helping families.  We need specific tools, one must consider the power of family expenditures.  When we consider the family unit, we have to look at family incomes and not just those of the individuals.  A dialogue between families and companies must be opened.  Enhancing family richness will enhance the quality of work thus interconnecting family and the workplace. 
 
During the conference, Giovanna Rossi, professor of Sociology of Family at the Catholic University of Milan, has launched a campaign asking, “are we really sure that people are aware of the richness produced by families?  If so, that means that this richness has to be supported adequately.”
 
Giulio Boscagli, chief of the Family Conciliation and Integration Department of the Lombardy Region, tells of his personal experience, “My wife and I had six children who are now adults.  During their childhood, I didn’t have a good job.  My wife and I worked as teachers (teachers are not paid well in Italy).  It was tough for them, but they made it through.  “What you need,” Boscagli adds, “is the want of a bigger plan for your life, the wanting to belong to history.”  Unfortunately, the culture of our country is not aware of the importance of family in society; as a consequence, we have shaky family politics.
 
I’m sorry, did he say that Italy is unaware of the importance of family?  In other countries, people think of us as sitting around prepared tables together with grandpas, cousins, uncles, and aunts, and relatives who gather for every feast just to enjoy and spend time together!  Are we not famous abroad for our strong relationships with Mom and Dad, with our kids whom we can’t wait to hug again when they return or visit us?  Italian families are the “bearers” of human relationship “goods” according to Professor Scabini.
 
In 1956 Edward Banfield, a political analyst from the University of Chicago, decided to move to Montegrano Basilicata with his family to study the causes of southern Italy’s “backwardness.”  At the time, Banfield, when writing about the situation in Italy, coined the term “amoral familism.”  “In a society based on the amoral familism, no one wants to collaborate or trust in other people because no one expects the other to do the same.  To offer collaboration and trust is to guarantee that you are going to get cheated.  It is convenient to no one to change this attitude, unless other people are also willing to do it, unless you have a guarantee that nobody else will cheat.”  According to Banfield, the consequences of this system are devastating for the economy and society.  Above all, they prevent any efficient management of public goods from being available to the community, the same goods that would go on to improve the economic and social growth of the country.
 
That said, long live family! To the kind of family, however, who can generate a very rare human value in the nowadays ItaIian society: the sense of communal good.  Is there someone who is able to teach it, even after the concept of “amoral familism” has been brought to the table?