Abstract
Classical liberalism advocates the individual’s entrepreneurial role in a society’s political, cultural, and economic development, arguing for minimum state intervention to allow people to develop their potentialities and improve their social position, thus benefiting society as a whole. The Naples ethnography collected in anthropological fashion brings out the significance of strong continuous interaction between the material and the non-material in the complex ways in which agency influences the system. It also shows how political instrumentalism feeds bad governance, as it encourages exclusion and fuels strong feelings of injustice, in the process widening the gap between governance and the governed. The discussion builds towards the argument that rulers’ distrust and intolerance of unaligned moralities and actions that escape their control jeopardizes the legitimacy of governance and weakens democracy.
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Notes
- 1.
The ethnography that I discuss in this chapter was originally collected in the mid-1980s in a typical quartiere (neighbourhood ) in central Naples and has since been updated through periodic 2-to-6-month fieldtrips.
- 2.
Traditionally, my informants thus describe themselves, rejecting the word’s derogative meaning (Pardo 1996). Now , having become widely aware of their stereotype through the media , they say they proudly identify as popolino.
- 3.
Pretexts are regularly found to reiterate it. For a recent instance, see the typical remarks made in this line by the research institute CENSIS (Centro Studi Investimenti Sociali) and widely reported in the media ; see, for example la Repubblica Napoli (13 June 2017, available at http://napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2017/06/13/news/il_censis_e_il_mercato_del_falso_a_napoli_deficit_di_senso_civico_e_cultura_della_legalita_-167999086/?refresh_ce).
- 4.
Elsewhere, I have reviewed the responsibilities of the Christian Democrats, also well-versed in using ‘organic intellectuals ’ (Pardo 1996).
- 5.
Some bank officials refer unsuccessful applicants to private credit agencies that grant credit easily and at high interest.
- 6.
More ethnographic details on this issue can be found in Pardo (1996).
- 7.
Field research among local élite groups has helped to clarify this problem. Started in 1991, this research is continuing. Elsewhere (see, for example, Pardo 2000, 2012b, 2015, 2017), I have discussed some of my findings in key domains, such as the judiciary, politics, bureaucracy, banking , enterprise, the health sector, trade unions and academia.
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Pardo, I. (2018). Managing Against the Odds: Economic Crisis, Bad Governance and Grassroots Entrepreneurialism in Naples. In: Spyridakis, M. (eds) Market Versus Society. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74189-5_4
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