Sul concetto di coesione sociale oggi

[Autom. eng. transl.] The article proposes a reflection on the concept of social cohesion starting from the contributions of the classical authors of sociology, such as Durkheim and Parsons, who have tackled the subject in the broadest terms of social order, integration and solidarity, up to its rethinking by part of contemporary sociologists. The latter, in fact, have continued to reflect on the subject also in light of the changes in societies characterized in an increasingly multi-ethnic sense and by an increasingly marked diffusion of fears and uncertainties. The contribution shows a tension towards the conceptual clarification of one of the key terms in sociology - social cohesion - which, especially at the level of European institutions and international organizations, is used in a rhetorical and vague manner. The originality of the article is traceable in the attempt to identify an analytical, non-normative definition of the concept of social cohesion, capable of grasping its essential components, distinguishing them from the causes, consequences and / or factors that promote or favor it. This intends to lay the foundations for an operationalization of the concept and for its use in empirical research in the social sciences.