Socio-Political Agents of Welfare and the Reception of ʻSocial Securityʼ, Italy, between 1943 and 1948

The chapter argues that the circulation of ‘social security’ ideas and programmes in Italy during and just after the Second World War may be studied from a dual perspective that connects global concepts to their bottom-up reception at a national level. This interpretive framework problematizes the transnational making of ‘social security’ by shifting the focus to how Italy’s multilayered mixed economy of welfare adapted global ideas to the Italian context. The corpus of sources comparing proposals from Catholic social associations, trade unions, civil servants and social workers suggests that the reconceptualization of ‘social security’ criss-crossed the social and political spheres. Indeed, this debate reflected a variety of views on the goals and structures of the solidarity bonds that were expected to underpin the post-war democratic political pact and social institutions.