Disability, Unemployment, Immigration: Does Solidarity Matter at the Times of Crisis in Italy?

Solidarity allows “thinking individuals in a collective dimension”, and “defines a perimeter of mutual assistance which includes some people and excludes others” (Supiot 2015: 7 and 15). This perimeter may vary according to the scale we are referring to (local, national, European, for example), but may also vary according to the resources, both material and immaterial, available for mutual assistance. The economic crisis has evidently exerted a strong impact on these resources. From a material perspective, it has increased inequality within the countries; it has brought poverty back onto the political agenda and into the spotlight of media debate; it has generated an increase in xenophobia and the tightening of immigration laws; it has polarised the political debate. But the economic crisis has also exerted a strong impact on people's perceptions and attitudes, on people's disposition towards solidaristic or egoistic behaviours (Maggini 2018). Furthermore, the crisis has impacted on people's expectations in terms of legal and policy responses. In view of all this, this chapter aims to shed light on the new perimeters of solidarity in the domains of disability, unemployment, and migration and asylum in Italy. In order to understand the impact of the crisis and the recent legal and policy responses, the chapter will briefly illustrate the state of the art in terms of legal and policy framework in the three fields, discuss the crisis-driven reforms against the backdrop of the fundamental values of the legal system and in the light of qualitative data gathered through a series of in-depth interviews with stakeholders and civil society organisations active in the three domains (disability, unemployment, and migration and asylum) carried out in September-October 2016. While not pretending to voice the multiple claims, attitudes, opinions and perceptions of civil society organisations and stakeholders, these data offer interesting insights and critical perspectives to enrich our discussion.