La misurazione della coesione sociale: il dibattito metodologico

As there is no convergence between scholars regarding the definition of social cohesion, it is also difficult to translate it empirically. Some approaches tried to explore how social cohesion is produced, but they mostly worked with small groups (descriptive approach). Others, much more numerous, have defined social cohesion beforehand, on the basis of already formulated policy priorities (prescriptive approach). The latter approach leads to a multiplication of factorial models, in which various antecedents and consequences melt together, without the possibility of exploring the causal relationships between them. Another issue analyzed regards the level of the measurement of social cohesion, discussing about the relative relevance of individual-level measurements, as compared to larger-scale data collection. To conclude, more in-depth exploration of how social cohesion actually occurs is necessary, along with a clarification of overlapping factors that constitute the empirical construct.