In these notes a brief description of the most recent developments of regions is given, taking into account the impact of global business on regional processes. The example which is the basis for this discussion is the region of Bologna, Italy. To analyse these developments, several theoretical concepts are used which reflect the widespread commitment of different authors to this common cause of concern.

In the cases of deep-seated changes in the capitalistic economies, starting from the first Industrial Revolution, we can choose a pessimistic hypothesis such as that of Polanyi (The great transformation. Rinehart, NY, 1944). In other words, a systematic dismantling of the previous structures and the economic and social customs, with the serious social and human crisis, or the slightly more “optimistic” one of Perez (Technological revolutions and financial capital: the dynamic of bubbles and golden ages. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2002), for (...) which, in the recurring 50-year cycles of innovation, a 4-phase sequence is realised (irruption, frenzy, synergy and maturity) of which frenzy, i.e. “when financial capital takes over” and there is “a time of speculation, corruption and unashamed (even widely celebrated) love of wealth”, leads, through a turning point, to a new one: “The unsustainable structural tension that builds up in the economy and society” can lead to “a regulation (...) to put order in financial markets and to move towards full market expansion and greater social cohesion”; it should be noted that Perez emphasises that this is a possibility and not a certainty. What is evident for social science is that in periods of deep and revolutionary changes, as to the economic dimension, of capitalistic societies, since the first Industrial Revolution, the economic process of change is more and more unfettered of any social, political, administrative and cultural effective regulation; all the dimensions of everyone’s life, both private and public, are driven by the demands coming from the economic and financial realm; a divorce between economic institutions and society at large that is a lack of legitimatisation and democratic control on their lives by people becomes the rule. It happened in the 1880s, 1920s and 1990s and this is the actual situation of our societies; that is why many researchers and also financial and popular magazines are stricken by an historical comparison such as this one: “It has been a great time to be a capitalist. All around the world, profits have been rising as a percentage of gross domestic product. According to Goldman Sachs, the profit share of US GDP in the first quarter of this year was an all-time high. HSBC says 2005 was the best year for UK profits since records began”. (Financial Times, July 29, July 30, 2006). The journalist is aware of the consequences of the situation and he adds: “High profits and the extreme wealth they usually imply can be extremely unpopular (...). It is easy to assume that the liberalising processes of the past 20 years are irreversible. But such reforms have little bedrock support; they have been effectively imposed on many countries by economic elites.” This is the starting point of this article: the role of economic elites and the crisis of legitimacy of democratic regimes. (shrink)

Freud puts the verse of Virgil as an epigraph to his book on the interpretation of dreams. It is the exclamation of Juno who, after having tried in every way to defeat Aeneas, witnesses his landing on the coast of Lazio and the birth of Rome. She cannot give a reason for her defeat and then:_she sought the earth: and summoned Allecto, the grief-bringer, from the house of the Fatal Furies, from the infernal shadows: in whose mind are sad wars, (...) angers and deceits, and guilty crimes (VII, 323–325)_(The Italian version of the Aeneid by Vittorio Sermonti, Rizzoli, 2007). In the transforming world of cyber space, we ask whether we can bring into interplay our conscious and unconscious parts to dream and interpret the world of digital sociality and of seemingly total knowledge. We further ask whether we can build upon our deeply rooted mechanisms of resistance and rebellion to cultivate the growth of social and individual awareness of the danger of social fragmentation arising from the utopian fantasies of individualism and mobility, and thus confront the dilemmas of surveillance capitalism and autocratic automaton. (shrink)

The dream of the perpetual motion charms us since millennia, the desire of machines substituting men was present already in the imperial China and the classical Rome; the medieval alchemists tried to build automata, automata showed up in the Renaissance princes’ plays. In the Aladdin fable, the sorcerer satisfies on the instant all wishes of the lamp’s owner. In other words, the fiction of omnipotence accompanies humanity from the very beginning. Is God omnipotent? So, why not humanity? Building automatic factories, (...) digital modelling of human work, both makes realistic what looked utopian. It can perhaps be achieved an unmanned production mode, and where machines can produce whatever we can desire, endlessly. Are numbers not from zero to infinity? There is, nonetheless, an obstacle. Human desires are subjective; therefore, from the standpoint of the producers, of the automatic factory’s owner, there is a very difficult problem to go through. How to manage human desires? How to transform the desire itself in an automatic factor of the production? Digital modelling of human work is not enough; the human itself must be modelled. The full control of him/her must be achieved. It means understanding a priori each of his/her desire. It means leading him/her step by step all their lives long. It means, shortly, to transform him/her into automata. The nightmare of a bees’ or ants’ society, the nightmare of losing his/her free will comes closer and looks menacing. It looks like the black clouds of a threatening thunderstorm. (shrink)

Historically, the Italian and Scandinavian institutionalisation of action research has developed along different tracks. The question is, if there are any promising prospects to combine different action research experiences and methodologies across European regions? Alternatively, should we conclude that action research is mainly a local activity firmly rooted in a special culture in the different European countries?

The paper connects two of the concerns of this special issue: the way to transcend the ‘bipolar tendency’ of the market culture and to ‘deal with the swings between prophesies of doom that serve only to paralyse us further, and the unbridled consumerism that makes things worse’, and how to remain human when being mediated by technology in contrast to how we are in the presence of others. Our contribution is based on an extensive conception of human beings (HBs). HBs (...) cannot be considered only as cognitive subjects but also in their anthropological integrity. What we mean by this that they think and feel, they share concepts and emotions, they plan and desire. It implies that any attempt at reducing this complexity is a way to diminish human beings and their capabilities. HBs need meaningful course of actions to manage complexity and to tackle alternatives. Meanings come from purposeful activities, and people’s purposes are based not only on utilitarian or rational enquiries but also on what they consider right and good, according to their vision of the world. This is also the key to overcome the ‘bipolar tendency’. (shrink)

This article, first of all, supports the idea that the undeniable process of ICT-based technological convergence implies the social, cultural and business unification of the world of media and culture. The poor performance of the megamerger is a clear indicator of the unstable ground of the convergence hypothesis. Secondly, it argues in favour of cooperation between different expertise, skills and cultures to make multimedia products or to supply multimedia services, instead of creating from scratch a brand new class of hybrid (...) skills and professions. Thirdly, a variety of new possible and realistically achievable professional profiles in cultural industries and institutions are illustrated. Eventually a set of public policies, in the light of a new role for cities and regions, is developed. (shrink)