Summer 2014 Philosophy of Italian Culture Class Notes 1

Class Dates

Monday May 19, 2014

First Day notes

• Introductions

• Name, major, goals, motivation, relevant experiences.

• Course overview

• Course topics and research questions TH
• Movie distribution MA
• Wiki Instruction MA
• Assignments in this course TH

• Start Course

• Show clip from GIC
• Answer questions for Tuesday

Tuesday May 20, 2014

Davies, "6 Things Wrong with Italy"

• Economy:
• A stagnating economy, corruption, organized crime, political apathy, misogyny, youth unemployment
• "the economy having contracted for the last six consecutive quarters and languished in more than a decade of almost non-existent growth. Unemployment is at more than 11%; for under-25s, it is more than 36%. Italy has the second highest ratio of sovereign debt to GDP in the EU."
• lack of competitiveness --
• Treatment of women: "Italy's female employment rate is, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 46.5% – better only than Greece, Mexico and Turkey among advanced economies, and 12 percentage points below the EU average."
• Justice system: "Italy is one of the most litigious countries in Europe, with more than 2.8m cases brought in 2011 alone, and has by far the most lawyers of any EU country – around 240,000" also, overcrowded prisons.
• Organized Crime: "The 'Ndrangheta, for instance, has its roots in Calabria but dominates the European cocaine trade and the huge contracts being put out for tender at Milan's Expo 2015 are under particular scrutiny for signs of mafia involvement." (new "Tangentopoli")
• Politics: lack of stable governments (Wikipedia: over 50 since WWII)
• North/South division: "GDP per person is more than 40% lower in the south than in the centre and north "

Monday June 2, 2014

Holiday

Tuesday June 24, 2014

Holiday