Per un welfare responsabile

[Autom. eng. transl.] Introductory chapter to the volume that presents a responsible welfare proposal and is the result of a long and articulated path of reflection and research in which scholars and scholars from different Italian universities participated. The research is part of the national and international debate on the difficulties of the current social protection system in responding effectively and efficiently to the old and new needs of people and communities. The proposal takes three basic options, which represent the framework of meaning within which responsible welfare is placed: the centrality of the person, the responsibility, the dimension meso as a privileged place of its implementation. Responsible welfare is characterized above all by the decisive overcoming of a unidirectional approach, where a single actor (State or market or Third Sector) intervenes or more uncoordinated actors. Responsible welfare adopts an approach that includes and brings together (et-et) the various stakeholders at all levels and in different areas. This involves placing oneself in a network logic, based on the commitment to integrate, to bring together the social actors in a harmonious and cohesive way, through a particular form of governance that privileges horizontality with respect to verticality. The process of networking different actors that mobilize responsibly creates a new social configuration: the social space of proximity. In this specific space, new communication channels are generated, unprecedented collaboration methods and innovative responses that are more appropriate to contemporary challenges.