Between the Invisible hand and the Invisible Heart. Italian Welfare Restructuring and the Quest for a New Neoliberal Hegemony

The article looks at the current restructuring of Italian Welfare putting it into perspective with both the structural contradictions of contemporary capitalism and the more contingent and specific condi- tions of contemporary Italy. Relying on the approach taken by the political economy of the Welfare State, the variegated neoliberalization studies and the concept of référentiel, the process is considered and ana- lysed both in its semiotic and material elements. Looking at the transformations of the key-actors in the pre-crisis Welfare Mix arrangement, an on-going entrepreneurial and financial change is identified, open- ing the door to two, complementary, scenarios: a smart-utopia private Welfare one for those able to pay and a repressive residual Welfare state for the poor.