L’identità collettiva e i suoi rituali

Abstract

The concept of collective identity is often questioned, yet it remains widely used in the social sciences. While acknowledging the concerns raised by its critics, this article nonetheless defends its heuristic value. To this end, I emphasize the need to differentiate among various identity matrices to address the objection that the concept is applied indiscriminately across fundamentally distinct collectivities (such as nation, ethnicity, social class, or social movement). Given the importance of symbolic expression in the social construction of identity, particular attention is devoted to collective rituals. The aim is to elucidate their latent functions in cultivating and reinforcing feelings of identity due to their sacred and solemn nature and their capacity to evoke emotion. Finally, shifting to a more analytical level, I propose a typology of rituals designed to make more visible the practices through which identity is socially constructed.