Giovani, religione e pluralismo culturale: percorsi identitari e socializzazione

Youth, Religion and Cultural Pluralism: Identity paths and Socialization

Abstract

According to Sayad (2002), migrations play a 'mirror function', i.e. they allow us to refocus on issues that are already present in immigrant societies but have been overlooked in scientific-political analysis and debate. This also happens in the research on the relationship between young people and the sacred. The becoming young and adult of the children of immigration and the definition of their identities, including the religious one, have given rise to a flourishing season of studies on how religious sentiment is expressed in private and public space among those who are - for their own or their family's biography - an expression of multicultural Italy. The contribution introduces the theme of the monographic section by recalling how from a season of scarce attention, whether and how the youth segment of the population relates to aspects of religiosity has become the object of investigation and analysis. The emergence of Italy as a country of immigration and the comparison with growing communities of Muslims has then added a specific lens dedicated to the dynamics and processes of socialization, interiorization, management and visibility of being Muslim.