The capability to unite: theory and praxis of relational goods

Assuming that relational goods are crucial to the very existence of society and are indispensable to social cohesion, the paper investigates different definitions of relational goods in various fields of knowledge starting from scholars who were precursors of their discovery: in philosophy (M.Nussbaum), in sociology (P.Donati), in economics (B.Gui; L.Bruni; S.Zamagni). The paper also analyzes why relational goods have found less difficulties to be identified in certain disciplines rather than in others (philosophy and sociology have been less “opaque” in comparison with economy). The paper then examines the relationship between social capital and relational goods to understand the environment most favourable to the birth of relational goods and their feed-back effects on social capital. The paper also identifies the changes which traditional Welfare State should meet in order to implement and fully exploit the novelty of relational goods, alias the transition from Welfare State to Welfare Mix based on sociability and subsidiarity (although there may be different ways of understanding and practicing subsidiarity). The paper concludes with an empirical analysis of the main findings of a recent research on the associations of families placed in Umbria-Italy, which is an example of relational goods in action and of civic virtues spent for common good and for social cohesion, and with an exam of the main models of familes’associations existing at European level.