Two see-saws in motion: youth work and social work in Italy

This chapter addresses the history of youth work and social work in Italy in the period from 1900 until today. In this historical reconstruction we highlight the alternating connections and disconnections between youth work and social work practices. In the early 20th century a state of separation existed between control-oriented social work and youth work that functioned within the education system for those from bourgeois families. Both practices would have had strong co-operation from the Fascist regime oriented towards the implementation of a totalitarian political and social system. After the Second World War, a new disconnection occurred between institutionalised social work based on the case management of youth problems on one side, and a more informal youth work practice featuring a community approach on the other. From the 1980s until today, finally, youth work and social work seem to be looking with increasing interest at a new potentiality of co-operation, that of empowering young people as a resource for society by helping them to face the personal, social and structural barriers that impede their potential. The analysis takes into account the different representations of young people throughout the evolution of the practice of youth work and social work in Italy in the time frame considered. The chapter also draws attention to the main drivers that motivated the development of the profession of social work recognised by the state, as well as the difficulties of the development of a professional and institutional foundation of youth work in the Italian context.