Italian 20X MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE 30 multiple choice questions and 2 open ended questions.

Need a scantron (green, 100 questions) and a small blue book Catholic and Communist cultures: Historical and political conditions for their emergence o Unification in the 1800s triggered strong political views toward the event. o After the war, many people looked to religion for comfort and strength and for essentials. o Post WW motivated the Italians to think who they wanted to be. The intellects were born and the two parties were born. o The north was independent and politically cultured. Whereas the south was monarchist and traditional. o The political cultures were born after they had fought with Fascism during WII and they were born in their relation to the Fascist experience. o Italians political views were heavily influenced by the US. o Italians wanted to follow more modernized communism. o Decided to be a state. o People separate from the Catholic because they no longer saw its power. Catholic laws were too restricted: you either follow them or youre not a believer. They believed that the other party was too materialistic and atheist. Values o Catholic: 1. Private property as moral value 2. Myth of the land 3. Family centered 4. Work Ethic 5. Based on moral values. 6. Pro Church and USA 7. Anticommunism Family and land are important moral values. People must work the land. Italians must have to have work because thats what makes a person for who he or she is. When Antonio lost his job, he felt ashamed to go home to his wife. Completely rejecting revolution. o Communism 1. Solidarity between workers and farmers

2. Abolishment of the dominant economic structure based on land ownership. 3. Creation of an Italian Communism as opposed to International Communism Modernized communism 4. Rooted in the Resistance. 5. Based on moral values. Family is still important People have the right to work but they also need to be sharing their goods with the community. The society is like a big community. Compare to Catholics, Catholics are more inclusive = only includes people who follow their rules. o In the Bicycle movie, the church scene, all the people who wanted food needed to pray and followed the Catholic rules.

Goals o Catholics: Anticommunism Heavily influenced by the USA = pro USA Did not want to come together when Italy was starting to unified. Preserved moral values Agrarian in its origins Focused on family-centered value. Strong pro Church Use of a mass party (Christian Democrats DC) o Communist: Push forward = destroy economic structure after the war. Push forward certain criteria which are not only economic but also moral, or a working class which does not want to imitate the bourgeoisie but which wants to acquire a new, more collective and more fraternal way of living. Land reform Develop progressive thinkers Educate the people to make them thinkers = Italy can start to become a modern country. The remake of a womans role in the society. Re-assessment of society. Road to enlightenment. Centered on morality and solidarity. Creation of a mass party (Italian Communist Party PCI) Organizations created around them o Christian Democrats DC o Italian Communist Party PCI Supporters o The south supported the Catholic value more since they are very family oriented and believed in working for the land.

The north supported the modern communism which they believed in economic breakthrough. - Decline (when and its causes) o 1970s 1990s Catholic: Secularization of Italian Society starting in 1970s. Crisis of the Italian Political System in the 1990s. Communist: Collapse of Communism in the 1980s. Crisis of the Italian Political System in the 1990s. o Emergence of a consumer society Political aspects became les important in peoples lives. People are trying to figure out what is it to be an Italian. o Parties are not engaging people to their ideas o Political corruption brought mistrust toward parties o New forms of socialization and culture-formation o Rampant dis-engagement and political withdrawal o Candidate-centered politics. The Southern Question: o What it is and what it represents o It is a problem on whether if there is a distinctive Southern culture as opposed to a Northern one. o Today: Creation of a common culture through: Investments in the South Mobility Better understanding of the Southern traits Tourism Migration and Education Efforts to curtail organized crime. Images used to describe the South o Backward o Amoral familism Describes the Southerners from looking at their families They dont have tools to develop social relations so they care only for their families o Close net around the family o No creation or the idea of associations where people can share ideas o No desire to advance in a mature society o They only looked at the smaller picture (their own family) so they couldnt advance. o Patriarchal Men ruled the family = the society is structured that way: men are important and women are not o Fragmented o Barbaric o Incapable of self rule

They could not create any rules for the good of the society. They could not liberate their lands from other peoples oppressions. Instead of learning how to create rules, they were never given the chance to create them because they were always given rules by other people. The dominance of other people. o Individualistic, selfish: lack of civic consciousness. Everyone thinks about their own house, does not respect any rules. Causes of the South backwardness o No desire to advance in a mature society. o Incapable of self rules because they were always given rules. o They only looked at the small picture, their family, instead of the entire society. o Lack of civic consciousness o Do not know how to develop social relations Consequences of the South backwardness Concept of amoral familism o Describes the Southerners from looking at their families Differences in historical and political conditions between North and South o The South was heavily influenced by the Middle Ages whereas the North was modernizing. o They were both fighting for supremacy. o The north was rich industrialized and the south was poor and agrarian, agricultural. o The North was modern and the South was traditional. Solutions put forward by the Italian state to solve the Southern Question and their results o Two initiatives: transform their economy 1. Cassa per IL mezzogiorno 2. Agrarian reform It was to break the idea of large landowners, it was to break it up and then give people a chance to live off of. o Objectives Rapid industrialization of the South End of large land ownership system Closing of North/South divide Fight high unemployment Increase in consumption o Results: Cathedrals in the desert failed industrialization Distribution of small pieces of land failed creation of modern agrarian sector Emergence of large bureaucracy corruption and inefficiency High unemployment internal migration Rapid growth of Northern cities social and racist problems.

Organized crime: Historical origins o Post Unification 1800s o After WWII they expand their criminal nature o Roots are in the pastoral world and large estates of the South Causes and the origins of such causes o Linked to poverty, lack of infrastructures, and absence of the State presence in the South o Lack of States = lawlessness = create their own rules = to protect themselves. o The States could not provide certain sense of securities and protection for the people in the South so organized crimes take over. Goals o Secret societies that make rules among themselves o Rites of initiations o Family protection o Vengeance Characteristics/values o Common traits Secret societies Rites of initiations Code of honor Family protection Vengeance Hierarchical structure Uses symbols and codes. o Mafia Long lasting organization Connected to the political world Also called Cosa Nostra: Our thing originated in America. International in nature Deeply rooted in local and urban Sicily Highly centralized structure Communicate in old fashion ways, no technology so its hard to penetrate (passing little paper notes). o Camorra Rooted in Naples and its vicinity Members are from poor and criminal families Fragmented structure o Ndrangheta Mostly rooted in mountain regions of Calabria Strength of family relations Fragmented and not use of archaic rituals of initiation Most powerful one because of strong drug dealing relations. Organization o Mafia o Camorra

o Ndrangheta Principle of omert o A popular cultural attitude and code of honor that places heavy importance on a deep-rooted code of silence, non-cooperation with authorities, and non-interference in the illegal and legal actions of others. You dont hear, see or say when you see a crime. The Italian state vs. Mafia: what success? o Mussolini destroyed the Mafia once using powerful political force, the Fascism. o Italian state could not eliminate Mafia because they are too hard to tract down or penetrate. The way they communicate was old fashion without any technology. o The Omerta, Code of silence, prevents the State authorities to seek out any information. o The organized crimes have a strong control over the economy in the South. o The Southerners believe in the rules of the organized crimes more than the States claimed justice.

Italy and EU: Reasons to join o Economic recovery: to solve unemployment problem = open liberal market. o Economic benefits: steel and coal; region funds. o Association with wealthier countries o Redemption from Fascim o Fear of Communism; they wanted to democratize. o Inferiority complex in foreign affairs o Weak state = they wanted to have a voice. Attitude towards European integration o Enthusiastic o Wanted to open to the rest of the world o Wanted to join international organizations. o To give more power to Europe to empower the European constitutions. o Everything changes such as political, economical, and cultural integration. o Having European currency = stability. o Support for single market o Support for single currency o Support for a deeper and wider EU o Initiatives and supporters How the EU has transformed Italy o Changed a lot of their customs and lifestyles to adapt to the European request such as economic or cultural requests. o The market expanded

Movies:

The Bicycle Thief Movie: The Bicycle Thief Symbols Bicycle o Freedom from poverty, economic freedom = for Antonio. So that he could buy things for his family, provide for his family. o In this movie people never stop. Bike is the symbol of freedom from being oppressed. People finally move around the city after the war. They dont need to hide from the fascia or into the bombshells. Poster symbol: o Entertainment o New society is born, people wanted to have fun and movies are made in Italy or America. At that time, Italians loved Hollywood movies. Many movies were made in Rome. Movie center. It was a time when Italy was in loved with American entertainment. Church o Italian in tuned with the religion during the hard time. o Go to church to get shaved, food, the essential need = food. o Church was an important place for people to get basic needs, because govt was too poor to provide. Rome o A city o Full of life, lots of activities, it is the center of life. Themes o Father and son relationship: In the beginning: Bruno wanted so much to be like his dad. He idealized him and followed him around. Bruno is more mature than Antonio Antonio always loses it and does not know the solutions Bruno is very helpful and is almost like a conscious for his dad Bruno saw dad stole bike = Bruno was saddened and more disappointed he realized he idealized his father. o Dishonor Having a job is morally right and not having a job is wrong I dont want to tell wife or son that I dont have a job = if you dont have a job you are no one. Job offerings are not target for the skillful but more randomly, as long as you have a bike you can have a job. o Class juxtaposition (working vs. middle class) Class difference was drastic and sharp. They were given different treatments = rich had table cloth and poor didnt. That is why Antonio was eagerly to go back to find his bike to get his job back. Middle class (like the rich ladies at church) = it is moral for the middle class to feed the poor, they are proper, they go to church. o Embarrassment: At the end, he gets caught because of stealing a bike = Antonino was ashamed of what he had done. The temptation of getting a bike. When he got

caught = lost all hope to find his bike back. He was trying to be justice but everyone he turned, no one helped him so he stole a bike. No rule to protect citizen from crime = the bad guy had his neighbors to back him up but Antonio had no one. How do we know that film expresses leftwing views? o working people coming together about jobs and bribes = working class. o The little boy in the restaurant = viewers automatically dont have empathy o The ladies at church = we dont have empathy but we feel bad for the people who go to church just for a bowl of soup. o We feel bad for Antonio and Bruno. We want to help the working class and dont care about the middle class. Which class is represented in the movie? o Working class What elements do we see that point to a changing society? o ....cheer for their soccer teams. o Go to movies, the American movies, America was so foreign to them. o To have music o All to leave the Fascism and the war o Prostitutes o Entertainment o Morally want to change, to be free, to be modern, to leave the catastrophe from the war. The Sicilian Girl Mafia: The Sicilian Girl Themes: Family honor, the south, Mafia Culture, Justice, Courage, revenge, freedom, distrust in the States Family honor: Common in the south for parents close friends to be called aunts and uncles Family of Rita and her honor has been tinted, How? o You have done something to tint the integrity of my family. Ritas father was killed by Don Ritas perspective: own familys honor = so she wanted revenge. Her family was a normal family So the family is dishonored = killed a good man o Mothers perspective She represents the woman of a Mafia Tinted because Rita went to the cops even though shes from a Mafias family. o People in the village wanted Mafias rules than the Italian States rules. The brother was killed by a Mafia member, but the murderer was killed within 24 hours by another Mafia = that is justice to the villager.

The South: Juxtaposition between the South and the North Loyal to religious traditions = the society that she lived in. Everyone knew each other, a small community. The Catholics were threatened by the Mafia. They go to church because its for tradition Rita doesnt believe because her mother was very submissive and traditional so she doesnt want to be that way. Rural, backwards, traditional, ignorant (not understand how to live in big cities) Mafia culture: Originated from the rural area. The mother had to play two parts: wife of the mafia, mother of a daughter. Women dont speak out. They are not told any decisions or secrets, so Rita was the first woman who decided to speak up. When they see a crime, they hide away, ignore, not too get involved. They believed in the authority of the Mafia bosses. = so its hard to penetrate the Mafia, no one speaks, no one talks, they protect the crime committers. Its tightly concealed (secrets). Courage: Rita was the first woman to speak up in the Mafia culture. Justice Very arbitrary. Very immediate: no trial, no time to explain, punishment is death. Very extreme Different from the judges: given trials Revenge: Allowed in the Mafia culture, but only kill the man of honor if youre the man of honor and if hes done something to your family. It doesnt consider outside of the man of honor thats why everyone didnt understand why she sought for revenge. Justice: accept and trust the authorities Revenge: violence in the Mafia culture. Freedom: At the beach When she died = she was free She was on a motor with a man she likes which takes her back to when she was on the motor with her dad the man she loved = time of freedom. After her fathers death, she could not be free. Her suicide = sacrifice = tell the judges that all accusations are true. Ultimate sacrifice for justice. Distrust in the States: She progressively started to trust the authorities of the judges. They were trying to help her and she was upset when they were killed.

They were trying legal and illegal ways to take her back to town to kill her. Suicide out of fear or courage? It might be that she was too young to figure out other ways except death. Book: Italian gestures o Another language o All the dominations, people didnt have one language to speak, so they developed hand gestures to communicate. o Very personal type of communication o Italians like to touch (brings people together) = common bond among people o Some gestures are survival skills Italian woman o In US, it will not be proper o They are not very smart, they are used, they are beautiful = women are as sex symbols = bc women are not aware of it. Its probably out of habit that they dont feel like they could be whoever they wanted to be. o They grew up thinking that the women need to be courted, so they accept compliments, they are portrayed not for the brains but for their bodies.