Sociologie et littérature face à la question du travail : le cas italien

Abstract

This essay aims to reflect upon the relationship between sociology and literature, focusing on the crucial issue—on which scholars have not yet reached agreement—of whether literary sources can be interpreted using a sociological approach. This will include examining literary representations of the world of work, looking more specifically at the case of Italy. Like other western countries—but perhaps to an even larger extent—Italy has recently seen significant transformations in the world of work (workplace flexibility, temporary employment, fragmentation of the labour force) and, over the past 20 years, has produced a large number of literary texts that depict these changes and attempt to interpret them.

Keywords

• sociology
• literature
• sociological approach to literary texts
• literary representation of employment and labour market
• temporary employment
• labour market in Italy