Qualità della vita, liminalità e innovazione. La funzione socio-culturale delle minoranze creative

[Autom. eng. transl.] The concept of creative minority was introduced in the historical-sociological field (Toynbee, 1934-1961) to designate those narrow groups of people who in a phase of cultural and political crystallization of the social order or in historical situations marked by serious collective problems, they adopt innovative practices and methods of action on a technical, social and existential level, destined then, in some cases, in the long term, to spread on a large scale, becoming the common heritage of an entire society. At present, the recovery of this concept in the field of quality of life studies proves to be relevant because it opens the field to unexplored opportunities for understanding some original social proposals for improving the quality of life that can only apparently and temporarily be considered liminal or niche. These are experiences that describe the generic and inflated principles of sustainability in new meanings and in ways of relating to environmental resources, food products and common goods that are so innovative that they are not often recognized and immediately understood by the majority of public opinion but which open paths towards which society, as a whole, will be called, almost inevitably, to converge, as has already happened in many cases in the past. After examining the notion of creative minority and its inclusion in a broader theoretical framework aimed at understanding the processes of transition towards sustainability, the paper aims to analyze the emblematic case of a minority engaged in the search for quality in the context of production and consumption of food products which seems to represent the many and in some difficult situations controversial aspects referred to by the concept of reference. The objective is to clarify the social and cultural function that the multi-level experimentations of creative minorities play in the delineation / anticipation of possible future scenarios and to advance a proposal to read the social dynamics that are at the basis of the possible extension of good practices from these promoted from the micro-social to the macro-social level.