Title:
Geographical and social mobility in Italy

Abstract:
The migration has characterized the social and economic development of Italy since the end of the 19th century. The history of Italian migration is long and complex, if we think only of the many different destinations of the Italians during the years: United States and Latin America, in the first two decades of the 20th century; continental Europe, since the second post-war period; the industrialized areas of the northern Italy, being continually chosen in the course of last 60 years. The internal migration, which has seen thick flows of workers from South to the North, especially in the years between the 1955 and 1975, seems is reviving in the latest years. In this study we intend to describe the differences between the current internal migratory movements and the one of the 60s-70s. We focus on the features of the “new” southern people who move to the north (gender, age, education, occupation). Furthermore, the main focus of the research will be the benefits resulting from migrant experience. To measure the social benefits of the Italian migrants we will perform an analysis of their social mobility. The objective is to verify if a geographical mobility corresponds to a social mobility, in other words if the geographical mobility is a channel able to ensure greater social mobility and give a contribution to the reduction of the inequalities both of distributive and relational order. The analysis will deal with intergenerational mobility and will be made on the Istat data (Indagine Multiscopo “Famiglia e soggetti sociali” 2003) that is based on a 24,000 families’ sample (approximately 50,000 people).