Il ceto politico attraverso le ricerche sociologiche

The aim of this paper is to offer a critical review of most of the empirical researches on political class and local government published in Italy. In particular, the author examines some empirical researches based on the three different approaches (sociographic, pattern of action by the political personnel, network analysis) universally accepted as the most appropriate for studying this subject. The characteristics of the main actors in the Italian political system have been unchanged until the beginning of ‘90s. It is in that period that two bills were passed in order to change (it could be said a sort of reengineering) the structural settings of local authorities.