Cambiare prospettiva? Politiche sociali e servizio sociale di comunità.

[Machine translation] The local community is often cited and celebrated as the solution to many problems in the Italian welfare system. Encouraging trust, solidarity and social cohesion implies interactions between a series of actors and innovative professional skills. After an outline of the changing welfare scene, the article analyses community social welfare, intended as a collective dimension and stresses the need to overcome sectorial approaches to welfare and encourage capacity building. The conclusion suggests some elements of a new paradigm. I profondi mutamenti economici e sociali in atto, in molti Paesi occidentali, stanno provocando la progressiva rarefazione dei sistemi, of welfare. In Italy, the different phrases proposed over time (from welfare state to welfare mix, to welfare community, to local welfare) represent the different configurations that the system has assumed, moving from a state morphology to a mixed type and then a community one. Structural changes in social protection have entailed, over time, an increasing involvement of various actors (public, private and social private), called to participate in an increasingly active way also in terms of responsibilities, functions and regulatory tools. In a phase, such as the current one, in which the evolution of the Italian welfare system is far from obvious, the local community is increasingly invoked and celebrated as a solution to many problems. Promoting trust, solidarity and social cohesion in local contexts involves appropriate interactions between different actors and requires an innovative commitment from professionals. After highlighting some salient themes that make up the reference scenario of welfare changes, the article examines community social service, understood as a collective dimension, focusing attention on the need to overcome sectoral approaches to welfare and promote “capacitational” practices in social services and policies. The conclusions of the essay indicate some traits that are relevant and useful for a paradigm shift.